


Importing a New Variable

by Azira, katamariofsoul



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Depression, Developing Relationship, Except not?, For the most part, M/M, Magic and Souls, Mostly from the OC, Original Character(s), Sans (Undertale) Remembers Resets, Slow Burn, Swearing, but not too slow, feelings are hard, it's complicated - Freeform, oh lordie here we go, one beta, reset shenanigans, third person not reader
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-12
Updated: 2021-02-25
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:54:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 38,888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23055034
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Azira/pseuds/Azira, https://archiveofourown.org/users/katamariofsoul/pseuds/katamariofsoul
Summary: After a thousand or so resets, Sans was out of ideas. Out of hope. Out of a point to keep trying.It was always going to be the same, always going to end up with him back in Snowdin, with that damn thing posing as a human child. In an act of final desperation, the skeleton destroys the machine in his basement he's worked so hard to try and repair, hoping it might free him from this loop. Even if by death....It certainly does change things up at least.
Relationships: Sans (Undertale)/Original Character(s)
Comments: 32
Kudos: 75





	1. Main Function

“Well fuck you too…” Zach mumbled to himself as he finished listening to the voicemail his landlord left him. Another minute of rambling and deflecting that amounted to ‘I’ll get to it’. The guy could have easily done as much with a text of his middle finger, but the bastard always did seem to take the most circuitous way of doing nearly everything while screwing his tenants.

Seriously, how hard was it to fix a damn boiler? Probably not _easy_ sure, but how had he not gotten someone in over the course of an entire month. And it had already been on the fritz for ages before it had just given up the ghost. This year’s winter was mild, so there couldn’t even be that much of a back log on repair places. Not so mild that it made having no heat or hot water for this long bearable, mind you.

On one hand, he supposed going for the cheapest apartment he could find in the city meant he shouldn’t expect better. But it was _also_ the only affordable one, and even then just barely. Rent prices anywhere within an hour of downtown were absurd.

“Don’t pursue your dreams of art, go into STEM. Learn a useful skill that you hate, like programming!” He said in a mocking falsetto to the empty apartment, “After all, don’t wanna end up a junkie in some run-down apartment working two jobs and running freelance on the side, right?!”

The young man rubbed his temples to shoo away the nagging memories of both guidance counselors and family members, “Well I’m not a junkie yet, so hooray. Landed one out of three.” That was a passing grade... in bizzaro world.

Zach had a feeling though, that the advice would’ve been way more useful in landing a lucrative job if it hadn’t been for the fact that he was black. He had no way of knowing for sure of course. Well, except for a handful of cases, where there had been an extremely blatant reaction when the recruiter saw his face for the first time. So he'd had to resort to taking whatever freelance work he could find online while piecing together enough to afford a place to live. Fuck, this line of thought was making him stressed out again. Not to mention the fact that he was talking to himself out loud.

He made his way over to the tiny, plug-in stove top he had on the counter, located in his excuse of a kitchenette. Maybe some tea might help him actually relax and get some sleep. The old lady down the hall had offered him some packets a few weeks ago while they bonded over how crap the landlord was, and he wasn't one to turn down free things these days. It might warm him up at the very least.

Before he could even get all the water in the kettle, a stuttering hum told him that going for the cheapest option had bitten him in the ass again. This time with his ‘new’ space heater, which he’d picked up at a garage sale on the way back from work a couple weeks ago.

It was already cold in the apartment, but without it on it'd get down right freezing, even with his coat still on. “Oh for fuck-” He hurriedly made his way over, empty kettle still in one hand, and gave it a kick, hoping that would pop whatever was off back into place.

In retrospect, doing such a thing while already pissed probably wasn’t Zach’s brightest moment that day. It tipped over, a few visible sparks flying upon impact with the floor. Including one that caught onto a part of the peeling wallpaper. Peeling wallpaper that was apparently highly flammable, “Aw shit!” If he didn’t put it out fast, the whole place was going to go up in smoke!

He turned around to rush to the sink and-

* * *

It was more smoke then Sans had been expecting.

Well, he hadn’t been exactly expecting anything in particular, aside from a dim hope that it would maybe explode and finally end this awful existence.

But no, it seemed a direct Gaster Blaster didn’t do anything more than further damage the already inoperable mystery device. That and no doubt cause some smoke damage. Good thing Papyrus didn’t really know about this basement. Well, that’d teach him to get his hopes up. You’d think he’d have learned that lesson by now.

He could hear a crackling sound coming from the damn thing, no doubt his blast having caused some sort of small electrical fire, which must be contributing to the thick smoke. It was thankfully starting to clear, but between that and the poor lighting, he could barely see anything else in the basement. Not that he was particularly interested in doing so, damn place was a mess. Just like its owner. But in the moments of taking in these details, Sans was able to make out another noise. Coughing.

It was enough to break him out of his fugue state, and he made his way towards the noise.

The first thought was that Papyrus had seen smoke leaking out and found his way in, but the lack of accompanying distinctive yells made him unsure. It was also way too pained and desperate sounding, with loud gasps for air. Skeletons like themselves only would experience minor discomfort, even in thick smoke like this.

Maybe one of their neighbors was concerned one of Papyrus’ cooking sessions had gone out of control? Or maybe Undyne came to check in on his brother? Her aquatic nature would’ve made her extra susceptible to smoke like this. Hopefully it was clearing fast enough to not kill her. That’d be a pain to deal with for this run, to say the least.

When he finally saw the source, all those thoughts left him, and Sans completely froze up.

Curled up on its hands and knees in the corner, now weakly gasping for breath, was a human. A _different_ human.

* * *

He hit the ground.

He couldn’t think.

It hurt to breathe.

Several moments passed before Zach regained something approaching coherent thought.

What happened? And oh god there was so much smoke. He couldn’t see more than a couple feet in front of him and his eyes were watering. Every breath was like sucking on an exhaust pipe, making him cough violently.

He crawled along the floor, trying to find his way to the door, panic ensuring he didn’t notice the different floor.

His groping hands hit a wall at some point, and he started to go along it. It was only then that he began to realize that something was wrong. His apartment was tiny, he should’ve hit something else by now.

The fact that his thoughts were clearing was perhaps the first sign that the air was as well. It still wasn’t great, but he wasn’t hacking up his lungs with every breath now. So maybe now he could actually see enough to determine where he was.

Being immediately greeted by the sight of a figure standing barely a foot away, staring down at him, already wasn’t promising. The details of said figure even less so.

“this is new.” The skeleton said in a deep voice that Zach would’ve described as soothing in other circumstances. His mouth didn’t actually open as he said this.

“Fuck.” Trying to speak ended up triggering another round of violent coughing on his part, to the point where he nearly felt himself retch, barely holding it back. Cupping a hand over his mouth, he propped himself against the wall behind him. He was still weak from inhaling all that smoke, but he somehow managed to pull himself up. “I’m hallucinating.”

“what?” Almost looked like he was raising a brow. It was freaky, seeing that change in expression happen with bone, something that was very much not supposed to move like that.

“I sai- No, no. Not going to explain something to a hallucination. Need to get some fresh air and…” Zach looked around, realizing, as the smoke cleared, that not only was this not his apartment, or the hallway outside it, he didn’t recognize this place at all.

“so I’m a hallucination? that’s a new one.” He sounded amused at the human’s reaction. Considering how justified said reaction was in such an insane scenario, Zach would be pissed about that, were any of this real. “though I guess a human who’s never met a monster before would think that.”

“I’m not listening to you.” Zach looked around, hoping to at least find an exit. Something was very wrong. He was starting to hyperventilate, which combined with the smoke made him cough again. It hadn’t completely cleared, so that was to be expected.

“might wanna take it easy there kid.” A hand on his shoulder, and Zach quickly recoiled and tried to swat it away. That was a physical presence. He had felt a pressure on his shoulder, which meant he wasn’t just having a simple audio-visual hallucination.

“No! Don’t… Stop that!” He was panicking at this point, but he didn’t care. This was worth panicking over. “Fuck fuck fuck.” He muttered to himself, gripping at the sides of his face, nails digging into his skin. He could feel that as well. “I-I’m dying. I’m lying on the floor of my burning apartment, dying from smoke inhalation, and these are the last spasms of my oxygen starved brain.”

Although he didn’t touch him again, the skeleton did make a motion towards him, “uh huh… Maybe you should try calming down. You seem awfully convinced that none of this is real kid, but-“

“Of course none of this is real!” Zach snapped, “YOU’RE A VIDEO GAME CHARACTER!”

The skeleton stared back, the lights that had been in his eye sockets gone now. “…what.”

“I’m dead and I’m hallucinating motherfucking Sans Undertale trying to comfort me!” The young man let out a desperate laugh, breaking out into another coughing fit that became mixed with the laughter. He gasped for breath, slumping back against the wall, smiling acerbically “Ohh. What does it say about me, that my final moments are visions of a character of a video game I never even actually played?”

Sans stared back at him in silence and Zach looked him over, remembering now that, yeah, that was the outfit he wore in game. Blue hoodie, black shorts, and… he didn’t actually remember if those slippers were a part of it, but it seemed right. Finally, he broke the silence, “…can you explain to me what you just said?”

“Which part?” He retorted, finding it kind of funny he’d managed to confuse his own hallucination. “The part where I’m dead and none of this is actually happening? Or the part where you’re a video game character slash internet meme?”

Another moment of heavy silence before Sans spoke again. “…so a video game, huh? That actually sort of makes sense.”

Zach just shrugged a bit, resting his head back against the wall.

“mind giving me some more details?” The way he said it made clear that Sans probably wasn’t going to take no for an answer.

“…yeah screw it.” The human let out a grunting sigh, pushing himself off the wall. “Might as well have fun with this hallucination before it ends. Why not?” Because that’s all this was. An increasingly lengthy and realistic hallucination. The possibility that this was actually happening was so absurd to Zach that his brain had sort of tossed that idea out the window. “So whatcha wanna know?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah, trying my hand at writing a new fandom, as well as something more romance oriented.
> 
> Undertale has interested me for a while, and I've been struck for a while about how many Sans/OC fics there are, but a surprising lack of male OCs, so I'm gonna help add to that small number!
> 
> If anyone has any suggestions, critique, questions, or anything to say in general, I'd really appreciate a comment! Thanks
> 
> (Thanks to Azira for being a great Beta!)


	2. Break Statement

The details in this hallucination-type thing were increasingly impressive. For example, Zach couldn’t ever remember a dream where a couch was just subtly lumpy. His head still felt foggy and dense as well, which matched what he felt after particularly stressful situations. And when him and Sans had been outside, it had certainly felt cold to match the surrounding snow. Not that it had been for long, the skeleton quickly ushering him into the house proper, and all but shoving him over towards the couch he was now seated upon.

Idly, he was aware of the sound of running water, but it was a fight to keep any form of concentration. A moment later, he became aware that Sans was standing in front of him, with a glass of water in hand. “you keep coughing. ‘usually helps Undyne when she’s like that.”

Zach stared back dumbly for a few moments, before blinking, “Right, thanks.” His voice was incredibly hoarse, and it hurt to talk. The young man took it with a shaky hand, and took a large drink, an immediate feeling of relief greeting him. He let out a coughing gasp as he finished, realizing he’d downed the entire glass. “I needed that.”

“so… a game, huh?” The tone of that deep voice grabbed his attention back. He looked up, and saw that the skeleton was staring right at him. That grin looked strained, almost forced, and those eyelights of his were gone again. It made Zach’s gut curl up in discomfort, feeling like he was suddenly in the interrogation chair. Sans either didn’t notice, or didn’t care, standing right in front of the seat. With the human being seated, it meant that he was actually a bit taller than Zach at the moment.

“Yeah…” Zach managed to suppress the fear with relative ease. After all, none of this was real. “Is there an actual question there?” He snarked.

For a moment, it was like Sans was staring _through_ him, not at him. How he could tell, Zach had no clue, he just sort of knew. The skeleton appeared to return to the moment though, and stopped looming over him quite as much. “i want you to explain it to me.”

That managed to only confuse Zach more, “What does that even mean? Explain what?”

A skeletal hand gripped the armrest of the couch, and he was suddenly right the human’s face. “it means you’re going to tell me how to stop it!” He yelled. Those lights were back, and if he’d been staring through him before, Sans’s glare was now boring holes into Zach. “you’re the anomaly, aren’t you? you even admitted this is all a game to you. everyone’s existence your plaything.”

Now, Zach couldn’t say he’d never been threatened before. High school had seen its fair share of sociopathic assholes on power trips, a trip to the bar or two that had gone bad, and he’d been mugged. But none of those had matched the sheer _malice_ that was directed at him right now. It was enough to make a part of him fear for his life again, even though he assumed it was likely already over. “Hey, look, you seem to be making some radical assumptions right now. Let’s just calm down, and talk about this like reasonable adults.” He said with a nervous smile, hands up in a placating manner.

A tense, unbearably long moment passed before Sans finally pulled back, his glare having dulled slightly, but still very much present. “alright.”

The human let out a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding, “You um… I’ll try my best to explain it, but I never even played the game myself.” The earned a skeptical brow ridge raise, and Zach huffed, “Without trying to explain the concept of a let’s play, which would waste a ton of time, I basically watched someone else play it. And that was… at least a couple years ago now.”

Sans placed his hands in his pockets, “who was the ‘someone else’? a friend of yours? were they the one who made the game?” He asked, continuing to probe

“Wha- No they- Look, you do know that I mean video game in the sense of mass market, right? Like… at least a couple million people played the thing!” Zach explained, sounding incredulous, before burying his face in his hands. “Can’t believe I’m having an argument with a hallucination.”

“couple _million_?” That seemed to surprise Sans, who ignored the rest of the human’s grumbling. He instead looked contemplative, “there goes that theory...” He mumbled, before turning his attention back to Zach. “so what’s the game about exactly?” The way he asked indicated he already had some inkling.

Zach rolled his eyes and blandly laid out the basic plot of his memory. “Some kid falls down into a mountain, monsters are there, kid tries to find their way home, and in a twist from most games, you don’t have to kill them. You play as the kid.” He said, as he rested his head back against the couch, “Oh and you’re one of the major characters. And uh… your brother, right? Papyrus? And a few others. There’s that fish lady, that lizard...”

“okay, got it.” Sans interrupted, having gotten the gist. “still doesn’t explain why you’re here though. you specifically at least.”

“I don’t fucking know! I didn’t decide what sort of dying hallucination I would have!” Zach said with a sardonic laugh.

“really attached to that explanation, huh kid?” The skeleton sounded amused once again, which Zach supposed was a positive change from pissed. Of course, it only annoyed him considering the topic.

“Yes! Yes I am!” He spat out as he sat back up straight, “Its way more likely than the idea of me getting transported or whatever into some alternate universe bullshit, while my apartment starts to burn down around me!”

Another amused sound, this time a chuckle, and another brow raise. “your what started to what?”

Before Zach could say anything in response, both of them jolted at a sudden blaring noise filling the room. “Dammit.” He hissed, and fished something out of his pocket, “Stupid alarm.” The man grumbled as he fumbled with it for a moment, before finally managing to shut off the sound. It was only then that the significance of what he was holding came to him.

“that your phone?” Sans asked as the human continued to stare down at the electronic device, dumbstruck.

“Yeah…” He still hadn’t looked up, the skeleton no doubt able to see his face a paler shade. “It says no service. Which makes… sense.” The way Zach said it carried a weight of several, unspoken realizations coming to the forefront of his mind.

Apparently Sans could pick up on the tone, “weird that you’ve got your cell with you in your… what did you say? hallucination?” Zach looked up as that grin of his somehow grew slightly wider. “guess you could call it a phone-tasy.”

It was silent for an awkward moment before Zach facepalmed, a tight but earnest smile peeking out from behind the hand, “Please fuck off.” He said, through what was clearly a suppressed laugh. “Christ, is this real? Don’t think my own brain couldn’t come up with a pun _that_ bad.”

“bad? wow, and here I thought I had it really _dialed in_.” That smile was damn near infectious, which, ironically, made Zach feel much worse. He was wishing he could find it in himself to be mad at Sans right now. Mad was something… concrete. Not this weird, floaty feeling he’d had since he’d ‘woken up’. In retrospect, he’d realize it was the lingering effects of oxygen deprivation. Right now?

“whoa, where do you think you’re going kid?” Zach had stood up suddenly, and was making his way toward the door. He didn’t bother looking back at the questioning illusion.

“I’m going to find a way to wake up.” How? He didn’t fucking know. His mind was racing at a million miles a second, and he had to do _something_. It was either that or completely break down.

Before the illusion could argue with him further, Zach was out the door, practically sprinting. The sound of snow crunching under foot, the tinge of cold air against his face, in his lungs. Still none of it felt real.

In one direction were lights and buildings, and more hallucinatory figures from a video game, in the other was forest and snow. He went towards the one that looked more like reality. Maybe this was how he could wake up. Reject this illusion.

Now Zach wasn’t in the best of shape. Even if he’d had the free time to make use of one, a gym membership was beyond his means. But years of retail meant he was used to being on his feet. So it was only as the human got into the woods, off the path, as the snow began to deepen, that he began to really slow.

And yet he kept trudging, even as the snow started to work its way into his shoes, and seep through his pants. It was only as it became impossible to keep his breath that he finally slowed down, stopping in snow half way up his shins, gasping for breath. And then he started coughing again.

Dammit. It felt like his lungs and throat were on fire. Again. It was almost as bad as when he’d been in the smoke itself. The running must have upset it. Right? It was sort of hard to think straight. His chest hurt as well. A lot.

It was then, as he clutched at his chest, that Zach had an epiphany. As he fell to his knees, a painful numbness spreading throughout his body, he realized this must be it. The hallucinatory, drying dream was ending. His synapses had fired their last, desperate bursts, his spasming mind having managed to stretch out his last few moments into a surreal hour or so. But it was over.

Before his face hit the snow, he wondered if everyone else in his apartment would manage to get out okay. It’d suck to be the idiot that caused a dozen deaths. Even more so then the idiot that caused his own. He also wondered if he should’ve stayed with Sans. After all, it seemed that he’d been doomed either way. Might as well have enjoyed the surreal experience of talking to a video game skeleton.

At least his cremation was already taken care of.

* * *

And then he woke up in the basement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if the chapters are a little short folks, just trying to keep pumping out content at a semi-regular pace, cause otherwise I know it'll flounder for months!
> 
> Anyway, feedback is appreciated as always, thanks!


	3. goto Start

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Actually managed a somewhat decent time on this chapter, so I'm proud of that if nothing else. Also, thanks to everyone who's left kudos, bookmarks or comments! I really appreciate it!
> 
> Also, if I haven't mentioned it before, no beta. We die like men.

Sans felt like the biggest idiot in the world right about now. Which wasn’t a particularly new feeling, sure, having done the regret dance hundreds of times, but that didn’t make it any better. It was being made sharper of course, what with how he’d let an opportunity, the first one in ages, slip through his phalanges. He didn’t even know if it would have led to anything, but the human was the first new… anything in ages. Sure, he didn’t have a photographic memory of every single run, but none of them had contained that human. The one he’d only barely started to get answers out of, those few having already been tantalizing.

But here he was, back in the little house his brother shared with him. When they’d first moved to Snowdin, way back when, Sans had thought of the place as pretty close to perfect. Now it felt like a prison. It was where he ‘woke up’ after all, with every reset, the short skeleton monster starting every single one on the couch, a mostly empty bowl of cereal on his lap. Robotically, he got up, took it to the kitchen, and placed it on the counter. Papyrus would stop by and wash it in the next couple hours, in between the patrol he was already on, and the one on which he’d find his brother alongside a peculiar looking lamp.

How could he have let this happen? He should’ve stopped the human, maybe used his magic to hold them in place. But no, Sans was so used to things going in a predictable fashion that he’d frozen up like an idiot when the unexpected happened, and they’d bolted out the door.

It hit him now that he’d never even learned what their name was. Damn. Maybe, just maybe, he could find some evidence in the basement.

He took a shortcut down there, and was quickly struck by the fact that the machine was still smoking. Not nearly to the extent that it had been, more of a small wisp then the spewing column from last time, but it appeared that some of the damage he had done to it had carried over. Certainly something he’d have to keep in mind. The rest of the room was unchanged however. Just like everything else. 

It was at this point, that Sans sat down on the cold floor, and sighed. “What are you doing?” He grumbled to himself, head hanging low.

All he was doing was getting his hopes up. That’s all this sort of thing ever amounted to in the long run. He was the plaything of a cruel universe, who’d lashed out in an attempt to end his suffering. So what if he’d managed to summon a human from another universe? All they’d done was confirm a few of his suspicions, add some context, before vanishing in a way Sans desperately wished he could.

Even supposing he could do that sort of thing again, which, long shot, what was the point? It apparently hadn’t done anything to end the loop. The most that had changed was a few more dents in the stupid machine, and a bit of smoke. He supposed it did a decent job of symbolizing what all of his struggle had amounted to.

He let himself wallow for a good few minutes longer, before picking himself back up. Routine was the only way he was going to get through this. Sans had tried a few times, to just lie in his bed in despair, knowing it didn’t matter what he did. But Papyrus… it didn’t matter how deep in his depressive state he was, seeing his brother become genuinely distressed over him, to the point where he actually pleaded him to get up in one of the timelines… It ensured that playing along was the least painful option. Maybe he’d get lucky, and this would be one where they actually got to see the surface for a bit.

Sans went back up to his room to get ready to head out, hit his usual stops before the door to the ruins. Not that getting ready actually meant much, he just had to grab a couple things.

_Thump_

He slowly tuned around, towards his door. That sound was from down in the kitchen. And it sure as hell wasn’t Papyrus. He knew what his brother sounded like. Shit, had the kid rushed through the ruins or something?

The sounds were moving, from the kitchen into the living room, towards the stairs. Sans made his way towards the door and grabbed the knob, just as the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs began. Slowly, he twisted, and just as they reached the top of the stairs, he yanked the door open and popped out, half expecting the kid to try and FIGHT him right here and now.

Instead, he was greeted by a sight that left him far more shocked.

“Yo what the **FUCK**!?” There stood the human, looking very distressed and angry, glaring at Sans with questions in their eyes.

“…well you seem to have gotten rid of that cough.” He wasn’t quite sure why that was the first thing that came out of his mouth. Instead of, you know, ‘You’re still here?’ or ‘Calm down.’, but social graces were never the skeleton’s forte, even before this all started.

“I fucking died!" Well, that was certainly something. Were it not already firmly on the human, that would have gotten Sans’ attention.

“Wow.” He tilted his head back and forth for a moment in consideration, “I mean hey, join the club.” Sans held his hand out, grinning. “Very exclusive membership. Folks are dying to get in.”

Instead of taking it, (which only mildly disappointed Sans, as he hadn’t had a whoopee cushion at the ready this time) the human instead reached out and grabbed the skeleton’s shoulders, and took a deep breath. “Do you think this is a fucking game?”

As soon as those words were out of their mouth, they let go of his shoulders as a look came over the human’s face, one that told Sans what he was about to say, was already in their mind. “I mean, didn’t you say as much last time?” It was cruel he supposed, seeing as this was the human’s first time dealing with a reset, which had definitely been a traumatic experience for himself.

“I…” They had placed their hands on their forehead, and were taking a few deep breaths. No doubt trying to stay calm, Sans figured. “I died and then woke up on your basement floor. Do you have _any_ explanation for that? Any at all?”

“You mean a reset?” He shrugged lackadaisically, “At least that’s what I call ‘em.” His scientific background actually meant that Sans had spent ages trying to not only understand the phenomenon, but also put a proper name to the thing. But even if he had managed to settle on one, he left that sort of jargon for his journals.

Interestingly, that word seemed to result in a dawning look of realization on the human’s face; followed by one of frustration. “Oh damnit! I totally forgot that part!” They facepalmed, and shook their head before looking at Sans again. “It’s the whole save shit. You’re like… sort of aware of it, right?”

It was somewhat striking, hearing someone talk about it in those terms. Or actually out loud at all, really. But he realized the way resets often happened could be described like that. He realized he’d been dumbly staring back at the human and shook his head, “Uh, yeah. So… you are too then.” Sans was only now starting to grasp that last fact. Was this new human filled with determination too?

“If by aware you mean I definitely remember dying. Not to mention that whole previous time in your basement that was way smokier, then yes. Way easier to find the way out this time. Figured I’m come look up in here for…” The human shook their head, as if they were still having trouble believing it all. After a moment, they squinted at him. “Why are you staring at me like that?”

“Why can’t I CHECK you?” He grunted in frustration.

The human looked absolutely boggled. “…what?”

“I can’t CHECK you. Are you doing something?” He squinted. Maybe it was something to do with being from another universe, but trying to CHECK the human just returned a bunch of question marks for Sans.

“I…” The human pursed their lips for a moment, “Don’t even know where to start with that one, so let’s come back to it.”

They’d better. Monster or human, Sans had never met someone he couldn’t CHECK before. Even with all the insanity surrounding the kid, Sans had always been able to assess their LV by checking. As well as some other information. Guess he’d have to ask. “I don’t think we ever properly introduced ourselves.” The skeleton outstretched a hand, waiting for the human to take it. Instead, they stared at him. “What’s wrong, don’t you know how to greet a new pal?”

“I can _see_ the whoopee cushion in your hand.” They sighed, but still took his hand a moment later and squeezed with a shake, a small smile on their face as the fake fart sound filled the room. It earned the human a point in his book. “My name’s Zach.”

“Zach.” Sans said it in return, tilting his head back and forth, almost like he was swishing the name’s taste around in his head. “Huh, human names are weird.” That earned an amused laugh from Zach, “So what uh… pronouns and stuff do you use?”

Zach rose a brow, apparently surprised by that question. “You can’t te-“ The human stopped themselves before the sentence was even finished, “Actually if you haven’t met many humans before, I guess you wouldn’t. Uh, I’m a guy. He/him and all that.”

“That’s part of it, yeah.” It was also part of the frustration of not being able to CHECK. That sort of info could usually be ascertained by doing so. Most monsters did it when meeting another monster for the first time, as to not be rude. Sans had never paid much attention to human culture the few times they made it to the surface, especially after the first time, but he assumed things were probably a bit different for them. “So does that make you a he-uman?”

Zach closed his eyes and sighed, “…Must you?”

Sans could feel how wide his grin was. It’d been a while since he got to do some new material. “Well, you’re still smiling, so my he-umor must be pretty good.”

“God no. It’s just so awful you’re managing to wrap around back to funny, and I hate it _so_ much.” Of course, he was actually still smiling, even struggling not to laugh. Sans was going to have a hard time holding back.

But he supposed there were more pressing matters then puns, as sad and tragic a thought as that might be. He still had no idea why Zach in particular had gotten dragged over, if there even was a reason. Or why he was also able to remember (and apparently cause) resets. Playing twenty questions wasn’t his favorite way to spend time, but it looked like another round was in order. “Might be a weird thing to be asking, but when you died, did you feel really determined?”

Zach frowned slightly and crossed his arms, “That sounds really familiar for some reason.” He mumbled, looking off to the side, trying to remember something, before shaking his head and looking back. “Must be some part of the game I can’t recall. But what I remember feeling was a lot of pain and a lot of numbness. My emotional state on the other hand waaaaas… rough. Not sure one word would be able to describe it.” The human scratched his head and sighed. “And then I was here. That’s what I remember.”

“Thus disproving your theory of this being a hallucination.” Sans supplied, with a bit of a chuckle.

“Yeah, make fun of the guy whose brain was dying from oxygen deprivation.” The human shot back with his own laugh. “But yeah, I get it. This is all real. Either that or…” He trailed off with a hand wave

“Or…?”

Zach shrugged, “Or I did die and this is actually some sort of fucked up purgatory I’m gonna be stuck in for eternity cause I didn’t lead a holy and pious life.” He looks off into the middle distance, “I really hope not, that’d be a really disappointing conclusion, ya know? Always the worst twist imaginable.”

Well, Sans supposed that at least he’d gotten stuck with a human that had a decent sense of humor about themselves. Certainly more talkative then the kid, that was certain. Not that it was hard to beat Frisk in that department. “So how’d ya make it so long without getting caught?”

“Huh?”

“I mean after leaving the house.” The skeleton clarified, “You must’ve hidden somewhere, right? Only way I can think it working. Would’ve heard about either Undyne or my bro spotting and trying to catch you otherwise.” He chuckled at the thought of Zach having to deal with one of them. The guy seemed high strung enough just dealing with _his_ laid back self. “Must’ve been a bummer to make it two days only to… how’d you say you died again?”

When Sans looked back at the human, he saw Zach staring at him like he’d sprouted a second skull.

“What’d I say?”

“…I made it maybe an hour at best before keeling over in the middle of the forest from a heart attack.”

The look of shock on Sans’ face somewhat mirrored Zach’s. “...you’re kidding me.”


	4. value undefined

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got a beta, whoo! Need to change those tags now. Anyway, thanks to everyone who's bookmarked/kudoed/left comments, your feedback is a precious source of dopamine in this hellscape we call modern society.

“So about two days passed after I died. Unless we’re thinking somehow I just laid there in the snow for two days, unconscious, before dying.”

“i mean, you’re the one here that’s the human expert.” It was probably meant as a joke, but the way Sans was looking at Zach was with a bit of hope. That maybe the idea wasn’t quite so ridiculous.

“Again, lying down in the snow. Not even a proper coat on. Even if we go with the idea that I didn’t die right away, which again, stretch, I wouldn’t last _a_ day, much less two!”

The two of them had moved off of the odd balcony and back down to the living room, Sans now the one seated on the lumpy couch, while Zach paced back and forth. Not at a rapid pace, but he couldn’t sit right now. Everything was just… too much. So many absurd things to take in at once. It was still a struggle for him to accept it all, what felt like a wave of realization hitting him every few minutes that this wasn’t fake, on repeat.

“if so then… it’s still the kid.” The skeleton let out a snort, “guess you don’t have enough **DETERMINATION**. not enough to overpower them."

Zach wasn’t sure how, but it was like he could hear Sans not just emphasizing, but bolding the word as he said it. It was enough to get Zach to stop pacing and just stand in front of the other. “…I _know_ that word’s important, but I can’t remember why.” He groans and grabs his head, intensely frustrated with himself. “Why the FUCK couldn’t I have just played the game?! It wasn’t even expensive! Then maybe this shit would’ve stuck with me!”

He’d been just about ready to keep ranting, before Sans stopped him. “whoa, easy there. one of the neighbors might hear you.” It wasn’t him saying that which had caused Zach to go silent so quickly though. The skeleton had stood up and placed a hand on his arm. It wasn’t too hard to figure out why, but all Zach could think about for a moment was how it at once felt utterly bizarre _and_ completely unlike what he’d been expecting.

Admittedly, his only experience even close to this had been poking at what had probably been a plastic model back in school. Still, he was pretty sure actual bone would be cold; instead, he could feel a slight warmth through his shirt. It also probably helped that Sans wasn’t anatomically correct (although he supposed that phrase wasn’t quite appropriate) because real human finger bones likely would’ve been so thin and bumpy as to be painful to be grabbed with, and lacking a palm which he could sort of feel with Sans.

It took Zach a moment to realize he’d been staring at Sans in silence for… he wasn’t actually sure how many seconds had passed. The skeleton let go and laughed slightly, “not to say that Paps can’t be loud, but everyone knows he never swears like that.”

He opened his mouth, but it took a moment for Zach to finally find any words. “…where is your brother anyway?” And why in the hell had that freaked him out so much? Or… not even freaked out, but certainly messed with him in a way the young man wasn’t quite sure he understood.

“right now he’s out on his first patrol. in a couple hours he’ll finish, stop by the store for a couple things, drop em off back home, do a couple chores, then head out to check on me at my post.”

“wow you uh… you’ve got it memorized just like that, huh?” It was honestly kind of disturbing. He had trouble remembering what had happened to _himself_ , much less another person, over the course of a whole day with that sort of ease and certainty. Though when he remembered what Sans had told him, and what he already knew about the guy, it made sense. In a sad, fucked up way.

Before he could dwell on that subject any longer, a gurgling, growling sound, loud enough for the skeleton to hear, came from Zach. As well as a sudden pang in his stomach.  
  
“seems like you need some food to go with your thoughts.” Sans’ grin was obnoxiously wide.

“Hilarious.”

“well someone’s cranky. my jokes not to—”

Zach winced. “Please don’t.” Though he knew it was coming regardless.

“ _t_ _aste_?” God it was so tempting right now to just smash his palm over Sans’ mouth to make him shut up.

“…Anyway.” He said after letting the joke linger in the air, hoping for it to die in the painful silence. “Do you have anything I could eat? I haven’t eaten in…” Zach trailed off again as he realized something, his face scrunching up as he tried to think of the logistics. “Does stuff like hunger carry over between resets? It… It shouldn’t right?” Though he supposed resets in general shouldn’t be a thing, period, so what the fuck did he know!?

“not for me, but it might be different for humans.” Sans casually answered, apparently nowhere near as consumed by the sort of question Zach was raising. Though maybe he’d already thought all about it. He was already making his way towards the kitchen. “but yeah, what’re you in the mood for? hope the answer is leftover spaghetti or sliced bread.”

“Is that all you have?” Zach asked. He wasn’t unaccustomed to limited choices mind you, as he was barely scraping enough income to make rent most months. It was just an odd pair.

The skeleton casually opened the fridge, standing aside to give Zach a good view of the interior. An entire half of the fridge was taken up by nothing but containers, all holding the aforementioned pasta. The division between that and the other half was stark, like a solid line had been drawn down the center. The other half was barren save for… “Why is there an empty bag of chips?”

“why not.”

Well he had him there. Still, he was getting a strange sense that maybe he shouldn’t eat that spaghetti. “Wait. Your brother is the one who’s into pasta, right?”

“mhm, puts his everything into every single pot he makes.” The way Sans’ eye lights seemed to brighten just a tad as he said it told Zach that it was a genuine statement. And yet, that feeling of dread was only growing stronger. It didn’t help that the longer he looked at it, the more the pasta looked off. His stomach growled once more.

“I’ll just have some bread if that’s okay.”

“bread it is.” The slight laugh in the way he said it told Zach that it was the correct decision.

After managing to find a jar of peanut butter in one of the cabinets, that didn’t look to be expired after a quick inspection, the human assembled a rather familiar meal for himself. Figured that even after being warped away to another universe, he still wound up eating on a budget. He certainly didn’t have an audience for his meals back in his old apartment though, especially not one so focused on him. “Ish—“ He paused and swallowed, opening another cabinet to find a glass as he did, “Is there something on my face?”

Sans seemed content to keep watching as he did his best to stand on his tiptoes to properly use the absurdly tall sink. It made him feel like he was five years old again. “it’s different.” Sans said

“Excuse me?” He looked back, still pressed up against the ridiculous sink.

“you eating. it’s not something i’ve seen before.” It was said so matter-of-factly. The skeleton shrugged in the most casual manner imaginable. “It’s the little things, ya know? Plus I can’t CHECK you, so this is the next best thing.”

Zach turned off the sink, one of his hands coming back down with a glass of water. “Riiiiiiight.” He still had no idea what that meant.

“you ever kill someone?” For the first time in his life, Zach did an actual spit-take.

“WHAT.” Was all he could manage after choking on water for a couple moments.

“i already told you i can’t check you. so i can’t tell by your LV.” Again, Sans said it as if it was the most matter-of-fact thing in the world. To the point where he actually looked a bit confused regarding Zach’s wide-eyed state. “i mean i know most humans haven’t, same as most monsters. i can remember that much from my times on the surface.”

For a moment, Zach rubbed his face with a strained expression. “No, Sans. I have not murdered anyone. Do you have any other questions that I should get a lawyer for?” Well, he supposed that he should be _expecting_ ridiculous things to happen, considering the current situation. The one he was still having trouble processing. Part of him was still expecting to wake up at any moment. An even larger one sure was wishing that.

“got any family?”

That question was enough to bring him out of any self-reflection.

“you know it’s just me and Paps.” Sans continued, having gotten comfy leaning against the wall. “so how about you? got an awesome brother too?”

A small laugh was Zach’s first answer, “No, uh, no siblings. Only child.” He got a distant look on his face, a few slight creases appearing on his forehead as he let out another laugh, “Got the attention of my parents all to myself. Lucky me.” He took in a deep breath, “Not the greatest relationship with them, I’ll leave it at that.”

“why not?” It almost made him wince, having Sans continue down this line of questioning in spite of what he’d just said. When he looked, the skeleton was giving him a somewhat curious, bemused look. “i need to be able to know what to look out for after all. nothing personal human, but my history with members of your species ain’t the best.”

Zach set his sandwich down, lip curling as he looked over at Sans with a glare of annoyed disgust. It was bordering on contempt. “I have a name.” He spat, “And it was because they didn’t want a ‘sinner faggot’ living under their roof. They kicked me out the second I graduated high school.” He turned around now, to lean back against the counter, a bitter smile on his face. “So is that something you need to ‘look out’ for, Sans?”

The expression on own Sans’ face wasn’t one familiar to the human, and he couldn’t quite place it either. Definitely some form of confusion though. “…what’s a faggot?”

“Pfffhah! Fuck!” Zach facepalmed after the quick but loud whoop of a laugh that was nearing a sob, shaking his head with a groaning sigh. “It means I’m gay. As in likes dudes instead of ladies. Slur. Guess one you monsters don’t have.” He looked down to the floor, pursing his lips. He knew he’d just overreacted, he could already tell. “With that whole pronoun thing earlier, plus from what else I remember in the game, that’s actually…” It was actually probably completely fine. It was part of why he checked the game out in the first place.

“…they kicked you out for that?” It was almost a whisper, and made Zach’s head snap back up. For the first time, Sans looked genuinely… uncomfortable. And sad. “shit. i’m sorry man. that uh… that really sucks.” A small shrug, the skeleton looking away now as he rubbed his skull, “sorry for bringing it up like that.”

“You didn’t know.” He shook his head with a grunt, “I shouldn’t have snapped at you like that.” He stepped away from the counter, leaving the half-eaten sandwich there. His appetite was ruined. “What else do you wanna know?”

Sans looked back at him, with a look like a dozen different questions were on his mind all at once. But it took a moment before the skeleton instead shook his head once more, and asked, “so, any friends? sounds like you’d need em if your folks are that bad.” Zach could already tell that hadn’t been anywhere close to the first question on Sans’ mind. But he appreciated the effort.

“Some. None that were… super close I guess. Bodega girl is probably the closest. No boyfriend either if you’re gonna ask that next.” He shrugged with a bit of a chuckle, “Which is probably for the best, right? Not much chance I’ll be heading back home any time soon. So no one’s lives are gonna be ruined or anything when people realize I’m missing.” Which might be somewhat soon, depending on how that fire in his apartment turned out. Either that or he’d be presumed dead with his body unidentifiable among the charred remains.

“is bodega girl their name?” Sans sounded unsure, like maybe he was unfamiliar enough with human names that he could buy it.

“Oh, uh, no, it’s Nazia. I…” Zach laughed once more, a bit more genuine, and embarrassed sounding, “I knew her for almost a year before I admitted that I didn’t actually know her name. She’s the cashier at the bodega right next to my apartment building and…” He trailed off, suddenly finding the proverbial wind knocked out of him. “Fuck…”

He really was never going back home.

“zach.” Apparently having bone instead of flesh for fingers made snaps extra loud. Sans grabbed his attention back from the all-encompassing feeling of depression that had overtaken the human. “maybe some uh… fresh air would help?” The skeleton sounded more unsure with each word, and looked extremely self-conscious as soon as it had came out of his mouth.

Tearing himself away from the brink, and all the ugly thoughts that were currently competing for real estate in the forefront of his mind, Zach nodded ever so slightly. “I mean it can’t hurt.” He frowned, “But uh… isn’t the fact that I’m a human gonna cause problems?”

That embarrassed look vanished from Sans’ face, replaced with a large grin and a wink. “got it handled, bud.”


	5. Type Conversion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for taking a bit longer then the last chapters folks. This quarantine has been really grinding down my desire to write a lot of the days. Hope you all enjoy, and thanks again for reading!

“You _really_ think this is gonna be enough?”

Sans looked back once more at Zach, one of his standard, lazy smiles on his face. “more than enough.” He was holding back a far, far larger grin at the sight of the otherwise serious looking human wearing his new ‘disguise’. “in fact, i’d say you look… _lapin_ -ing.”

The bunny ear sporting young man scowled disapprovingly, and Sans had so much trouble stopping himself from falling to the floor in laughter at the sight, that the best he could manage was poorly suppressed snickering. They were the leftovers of a costume party that he could barely remember, Sans having gone with the most low effort costume possible. Heck, it had taken his brother bugging him to even get a costume at all. He’d been unable to pass off the idea that he would be going as ‘a hotdog salesman’. So instead he’d gone as ‘a nice cream salesman’.

Before Zach could say anything in protest, Sans managed to control his laughter, “you’re the one who insisted on a disguise.”

He’d tried to tell Zach that it wasn’t really necessary. In reality, to most folks in the underground, humans were basically just a thing you heard about in stories. The kind parents told their kids before bed, to make sure that they were good little monsters, complete with all the ridiculous embellishments that would usually entail. So the average monster didn’t know what a human _actually_ looked like. Sans had learned as much from the kid’s escapades.

Zach of course hadn’t been completely convinced, pointing out that as a fully grown adult, he’d be under more scrutiny than a child. “You seriously don’t have anything else?”

Sans shrugged, “i’m telling ya, people around here are way too chill to suspect that sort of thing.”

“It sounds like you’re setting me up to fail.” Zach threw his arms up in defeat before Sans could protest that. “But fine, you’re the expert here!”

“yup, I am. now come on.”

Sans walked out first, with the human close behind him. Without even looking back, he could sense that Zach was still on edge. Words alone clearly weren’t going to assuage that, so he figured the guy would just have to see the truth with those weird eyes of his. 

Well, he guessed that they weren’t _weird_ for a human’s eyes. It was just something minor that Sans had remembered; the way the eyes of humans didn’t quite match any other monster’s. Well, that and how the ones he was most accustomed to seeing were during extremely… poor circumstances. At least Zach’s weren’t red. In fact they looked to be almost black, although he was fairly certain it was just a dark brown.

“For all the snow on the ground, it’s not that cold out here.” Sans was snapped out of his thoughts, looking back to find Zach staring upwards, the slightest bit of snow fluttering about. From down here, the actual ceiling of the cavern wasn’t really visible, the darkness heavy enough that you could almost fool yourself into thinking it was the night sky sometimes. 

Well, if you’d never seen the actual night sky before. Ever since Sans had, he could always tell the difference.

“yeah, I guess so.” He stopped staring upwards, directing his attention back to the human. “you’re good with just that stuff on then?” Zach looked like he had a heavy enough shirt on, but a lot of monsters who lived in Snowdin tended to have coats and that sort of stuff on when they were out and about.

The human smirked down at Sans, “Do you even feel cold? Like, ever?”

“ouch, i’m feeling it coming from you right now.” Sans joked, starting off down the road, his new acquaintance following.

He laughed, “Sorry, sorry. To answer your question, it’s sorta chilly but I can manage. Long as this walk of yours doesn’t last too long. Thanks for the gloves by the way.” Zach had actually asked for them for disguise purposes, but Sans guessed that old pair of Papyrus’ helped in this regard as well. 

“depends on what you qualify as long. for me, I consider the walk from my room to the front door a pretty serious trek.” It earned an amused noise from the human as they continued on. “and yeah, although it doesn’t affect us quite the same way as monsters with fleshy bits. just uncomfortable is all.” 

The sound of the Zach’s crunching footsteps grew a bit closer as they entered town proper a few moments later, Sans spotting a few other monsters out and about, some of them waving, and a few even seeming to stare a bit more, likely wondering who the new guy was. It took a moment for him to realize that those footsteps were actually _much_ closer right now, and a glance back revealed that Zach was almost right on top of him. “Uhh…”

The human froze slightly as soon as Sans was looking, before immediately backing off. Had the guy not even noticed he was doing it? The look of embarrassment on Zach’s face told him that might be the case. “normally when someone’s on top of me like that, i’m having to tell a local guard that they’re barking up the wrong tree. but for you I guess I can make an exception." His grin grew a little wider, "better hope none of them are watching, or else they might get jealous someone else got to wrap their mouth around one of these bones before they could.” He winked, “too bad i didn’t have dog ears for you instead. or a collar for that matter.”

If he’d been embarrassed before, Zach must’ve been mortified at this point. It was kind of hard to tell till now, with how dark his skin was compared to the other human Sans dealt with, but he was clearly blushing now. And Sans was grinning from temporal to temporal at the sight. When contrasted with the dour, fearful, or angry looks Zach had been giving him up till now, it was kind of adorable. 

The human covered his face with both hands and grumbled, slightly muffled, “Shut up.”

Okay, scratch that previous thought. It was _definitely_ adorable.

Unfortunately for his own amusement (and fortunately for Zach’s sense of dignity), it seemed someone had finally worked up the courage to approach the two of them. “Well hello there. This a friend of yours, Sans?”

“hey, kodi. this here is zach.” He said with a relaxed smile, loosely gesturing with an elbow nudge in the other’s direction. “zach, kodi.” The guy let out a sputter that Sans could tell was a poorly held-back laugh, which was… a bit weird. What did he say?

Zach recovered quickly enough, though with a bit of a weird grin on his face, offering a gloved hand out. “N-Nice to meet you. Sweet even! And uh...” He glanced down at the skeleton, who was still trying to parse if he’d made a pun without even realizing it. “Yeah, I figure we’re friends.”

Aw, well wasn’t that just touching? 

Sans tried to ignore how it actually _did_ feel kind of nice to hear that. The kid called them their ‘friend’ on more then one occasion after all, so the term should have lost its meaning coming from the mouth of a human.

“A pleasure.” The bear monster shook Zach’s hand, “I’ve never seen you before; are you from the city?”

“Yeah, I’ve never been down to uh… Snowdin before,” A bit of a stumble, but he continued, “so probably not surprising you wouldn’t recognize me.”

Kodi didn’t seem any more suspicious then he already had been. Which Sans knew was almost certainly not at all. From every reset, he could never remember the bear getting up to much. 

“You know, I hear that the New Home development committee is gonna be holding elections soon. Must be pretty exciting compared to the sort of local governance we’ve got down here in humble Snowdin.” The bear continued

Sans rolled his eye-lights, “careful buddy, Kodi here is always _ursin’_ an un _bear_ able need to talk about politics.” Said bear monster was pouting at him. “sorry kodi, but some folks think it can get downright... “

“ **Don’t**.” The both of them saying it at once didn’t stop Sans.

“ _grizzly._ ”

Both disguised human and monster alike shook their heads. “I take it back, we’re not friends.” Zach looked towards Kodi and added, “I don’t know him.”

As Sans grinned with supreme self-satisfaction, the bear sighed with an understanding smile, “Well, I should be getting back to it.” He waved at the two as he started off. “Enjoy your time in Snowdin!”

The look on Zach’s face as he watched Kodi walk away told Sans all that he needed to know. He wouldn’t call it content, but the human didn’t appear a paranoid mess. “what’d I tell ya?” The guy was jolted out of whatever he’d been thinking, looking back at Sans in momentary confusion before realizing what he was talking about.

Zach sighed with an almost pained tone to it, “...yeah yeah, you were right.” He rolled his eyes as he said it, before looking away in what Sans assumed was the annoyed shame of admitting he was wrong, adding with a snort, “Sorry for being _careful_.” 

“heh. you’re excused.” He gave Papyrus the same line pretty often, and even for the same reason. Well, almost the same. The sort of things his brother tended to overthink like this were, admittedly, not matters of life and death. Or life and reset. ”leave worrying about that stuff to me.” He winked.

The human reached up to adjust his ‘ears’ while giving Sans a look. “You know, I get the impression that you’re not worried about it at all.”

“exactly.”

“Fuck.” Sans was happy to see that was said with a laugh, similar to how Zach reacted to his puns.

It only now struck him how weird that was. That it made him happy.

Here he was, concerned about the emotional wellbeing of... a human. A species that a good part of him had a deep distrust and, much as he hated to admit it, fear of, ground into him by repeated horrors. And it wasn’t in the same way he worried about the kid. That was a concern based on what they could, would, and had done to his friends and family. 

Heck, Sans had trouble these days telling if he genuinely felt that for his fellow monsters aside from Papyrus, or if he was just going through the motions. Why bother trying to help someone when it would all just be wiped away by the next reset? A fleeting, and increasingly diminishing, warm feeling in his ribcage? Some desperate, subconscious hope that maybe this time they wouldn’t reset, and that it would actually count?

“Yo Sans.”

The skeleton realized he’d zoned out, and that Zach was now staring at him with a hint of worry. “yeah, what’s up? aside from the giant cavern ceiling trapping us all down here.”

An eye roll told him that a dumb joke was just as good at making the guy drop that concern as it was with just about everyone else.

“Well I was going to ask if there was anywhere we could get some food that isn’t a single piece of bread. I remember something about a bar or grill in this town. And uh… a guy made of fire?”

Zach looked unsure as he said the last part, whereas Sans was somewhat surprised. “grillby’s was in your game?” That seemed like a weird thing to include in a video game. Especially one that must’ve been so focused on fighting, seeing as that’s what the kid did constantly. Then again, he guessed that the timelines where they weren’t on a murderous rampage, he did tend to take Frisk there.

“Again. Not my game.”

He rolled his eyelights, “you know what i meant.” But as he considered it, he supposed it wasn’t a bad idea. It’d be warm for one, and he knew at this hour Grillby’s would be less crowded, probably helping Zach to stay calm. “alright, just don’t ask for a glass of water with your meal. really puts a damper on his mood.”

Sans started off towards the bar, and heard Zach following. Followed several seconds later by the sound of a facepalm. “Because he’s made of fi- God damnit Sans.”

He chuckled.

* * *

In a lot of ways, Grillby was the exact sort of monster that Sans got along easily with these days.

The elemental was never one for long conversations, instead communicating the majority of what he needed to get across with gestures or meaningful looks. And even counting those you’d never call him talkative, which suited the skeleton just perfectly. After all, when every conversation he could have was either completely predictable in resets where his memories persisted clearly, or gave him a nauseating sense of deja vu in the ones where they didn’t, some silence was appreciated.

It also didn’t hurt that he served up food and drink.

“i’d recommend the burger. or the fries.”’

When the human gave him a displeased look, Sans immediately grew uneasy. Far more than when Zach had been freaking out on him. Rivaling the feeling of when he’d first stumbled upon the guy.

Please, for the love of everything, don’t tell him that he got stuck with a human who couldn’t appreciate the simple pleasure of some greasy bar food. It was bad enough dealing with his brother’s complaints, he couldn’t deal with another friend spouting that sort of _heresy_ .

“Fries don’t come with the burger?”

...maybe things weren’t completely hopeless after all.

With an inward sigh of relief, Sans grinned and pushed the door open, “what, you think i’m made of money?”

Just as he’d thought, the bar was pretty much empty at this hour. So much so that if it weren’t for a familiar, if less wasted looking bunny in a booth, you’d be forgiven for thinking it was still closed.

“Heya Sansy!”

“sup?” He supposed that Tib, the bunny in question, would have to start pretty early to get as drunk as they normally were, so it wasn’t surprising they were here already. He… wasn’t sure if it was just a thing for this day, or if the rabbit monster had a chronic drinking problem. His memories of Tib, along with a majority of his Snowdin neighbors, had grown fuzzy regarding anything before or after this particular set of days.

“Who’s yer friend?”

“visitor from the city, thought i’d give him the snowdin sightseeing tour.” The guy nodded with a polite smile, Sans continued. “where’s grillby? sign outside says it’s open.”

“Wait is Grillby his actual name?” Zach sounded almost pissed about this, making Sans chuckle at the face he imagined the guy was making behind him.

It seemed that his guess was about right, judging by TIb’s own suppressed giggle. “He’s in the back, just opened a few minutes ago, so I guess he had stuff to take care of.” They turned their head a bit, “So what’s your name? I’m Tib. Don’t think I’ve ever seen a monster like you before~”

Sans’ eyelights went out for a moment as that last bit was almost purred out. Not in anger, or fear, but an amused shock at what Tib was doing. Apparently being sober didn’t make them less of a flirt, just shift targets.

“It’s... Zach, and uh, it’s good to meet you.” Sans swore the flush on the human’s face was practically _audible_.

It was hard not to laugh. He was almost disappointed when the sound of the kitchen door opening interrupted the wonderfully awkward moment. Ah well.

“hey grillbz, how’s it go-”

It was strange. You’d think that the presence of a fire elemental would make the room heat up; but even before he’d turned all the way to face Grillby, Sans could already feel a chill sweep over the room.

The bartender was standing in the kitchen doorway, staring a hole through them. 

No, that wasn’t quite right. 

He was staring specifically at Zach.

For several moments, no one moved. No one made a sound. Grillby just stood there, staring in silence. Out of the corner of his vision, Sans could see Zach was tensed up, just as aware of what was happening as he was.

Tib however, wasn’t. 

“Hey Grillby, is something wro-”

“Tib.” It was a voice he rarely heard, and in a tone he had _never_ heard before. “I must ask you to leave.” The bartender’s soft, crackling voice managed to be quiet yet completely authoritative, leaving no room for questioning.

Even the otherwise oblivious rabbit caught on to that. “I…” They stood up nervously. “Okay.” And left without another word or even glance back.

The bar’s front door swung shut, and another moment of tense silence passed. Grillby still hadn’t taken his gaze off of Zach. Sans glanced over to see that though he was tense, with a layer of fear just under the surface, the human was staring right back at the monster with a look he could only describe as… determined. 

Shit. 

“gril-”

The elemental pulsed in brightness and shape for a split second, cutting Sans off. It was a flare of the bartender’s magic. A warning signal.

“Sans. Step away from the human.” 


	6. Error Handling

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, somehow I managed to finish this baby before a whole month had passed, in spite of myself it seemed. Thanks again to all of you, especially those who leave comments! (Dear god I am so desperate for validation)
> 
> Anyway, enjoy the show!

He fucking knew it.

That’s what Zach wanted to yell at Sans right now. Because of course it was right as he finally started to actually relax and think that the skeleton might be right, and that maybe this half-assed ‘disguise’ was enough for the monsters to not realize he was very clearly a human, that this happened.

This being; staring down a man made of fire, who was radiating both heat and an aura of menace. Which of course had the young man worried enough about getting a blast of flames to his face, that it overpowered the urge to tell Sans how wrong he was. Barely.

Zach knew on some level that it technically wouldn’t matter if he ended up getting killed here. He’d just end up right back in that basement again. But even if that knowledge was able to overpower the instinctual fear of death that every human had (which it _really_ wasn’t), going out by burning to death was definitely towards the bottom of ways he wanted to die. He’d barely avoided it once already.

“Let’s just calm down.” He slowly raised his hands in the air, trying to hide the tremble in his voice as he did. Zach had sort of… mentally prepared himself for this kind of situation, for a few years now actually, going over it in his head again and again. Although unlike that picture he’d had in his head, the bartender wasn’t dressed in blue or holding a gun. He couldn’t help but think that actually improved his chances.

Sans thankfully hadn’t moved from his side as Grillby had ordered, instead moving a bit closer, though only slightly. It was clear he was on edge as well. “c’mon grillbz, he’s not a threa-”

“So you’re aware.” He hissed, the sound like somethin searing. It was so freaky. It had been hard enough adjusting to watching a skeleton talk, but this guy, literally made of fire, who somehow managed to sound like that in his speech? Unnerving. “And instead of harvesting his soul, or apprehending him, you take him out for a drink?”

For the first time since he’d entered, Grillby stopped glaring a hole at Zach, shifting his gaze slightly to look at Sans, clearly angry. He wasn’t even sure how he knew, with both the glasses and the whole deal of being MADE OF FIRE (he was gonna have trouble getting over this one), but he could tell.

“you never cared befo-!” Zach saw Sans wince out of the corner of his eye, catching himself in what Zach immediately realized was about the resets. Had to be. “why do you care? i never took you for the type. you even mentioned it was a pity.”

“That it had been children. Which this is not.” That struck Zach. He’d known the game was about a kid; but that it had _always_ been a kid, each time? Grillby continued regardless, his gaze upon him once more. “A fully matured human is a lethal threat, and should be dealt with as such.”

“No I’m not.” He stated firmly, holding back the urge to shout it instead, meeting that gaze head on. “I haven’t hurt anyone and I don’t plan to.” Zach was starting to sweat, and not just from nerves; the bar was getting hotter by the moment.

“So you say.” He expected Grillby to continue with some sort of counter or try to attack at that point, but instead, a moment of tense, somewhat confusing silence fell over the room. Eventually, the fire elemental glanced back at Sans, though still ready to make a move at any moment. “Have humans come up with a defense against CHECKing?” He sounded more angry then confused.

“i can explain if you calm down for a sec.” The skeleton replied, a tense smile on his face. “come on grillbz, do you really think I’d just let this clown run loose if I thought he was dangerous?” Sans looked over at the young man with a small laugh, “kid here is practically harmless.”

While he didn’t appreciate being called a clown, the human was more than willing to go along with that idea if it helped calm the situation. “My name is Zach. And I’d _really_ prefer to not die like this. Please. You don’t need to do this.”

Another tense moment passed before thankfully, the intensity of the flames rolling off of Grillby calmed down, and the room noticeably cooled.

After an awkward second of silence, the bartender spoke up once more. “...follow me.” Before retreating back into the door he came from.

Grillby was seriously expecting them to just do as asked? After nearly roasting him alive? This was a joke, right? 

Zach looked over at Sans in astonishment, expecting to see the same expression. To his disappointment, the skeleton was instead smiling at him with something of a resigned shrug. “c’mon man, less chance of someone stumbling in on the conversation back there.” He started towards the door behind the bar, pausing when Zach didn’t follow and glancing back. “or you could run and grillbz will _definitely_ sound the alarm that there’s a human in snowdin.”

Of course. “Gah!” With something between an annoyed grunt and defeated yell, Zach threw up his arms and followed.

The moment he was through the door, he began to look around the room. It was surprisingly small, almost the entirety of the space taken up by either kitchen equipment or cabinets. Notably, aside from the door they’d just come in through, Zach spotted no other exits. Unless he could somehow manage to squeeze through the very narrow window above the sink. And fast enough to not get his ass roasted. 

He considered for a moment how that couldn’t be up to code before realizing that A) What code? He was in a different god-damned universe in a society comprised of monsters and B) Fire safety probably wasn’t a major concern when the only person to regularly use the room was _made_ of fire.

Sans snapped him out of his thoughts, “so to answer your question, neither me or zach here have any idea why he can’t be CHECKed. the guy doesn’t even seem to know what it is.”

Zach suddenly realized both sets of eyes (or eye equivalents) were on him now. But before he could say anything in addition to Sans, Grillby spoke. “And you trusted that he wasn’t lying.” It wasn’t a question, but an observation; one the human could tell was laced with something akin to exasperation.

For a moment, the monsters’ gazes met in silence. And then, just like that, Grillby’s posture loosened ever so slightly, and he shook his head. 

It was an impressive display of non-verbal communication to Zach, if nothing else. “...Soooo we alright?” 

When he turned back towards the young man, Zach could instantly sense Grillby’s glare was far less forceful than before. But it was still clear the bartender was wary of him at best.

“how’d ya know?” Once again, Sans broke the silence. The skeleton shrugged with that same lazy grin of his, “no one else who’s seen him even did a double take. and i know you ain’t the youngest monster, but i’m pretty sure i’d know if you were old enough to be a vet.”

The fact that the flames on Grillby’s face were able to move in such a way that Zach could tell he rolled his eyes at the question, was almost cool enough to make him forget the insanity of the situation. Almost. 

“Not quite, but my parents were. I still have vague memories of the surface you know.” Before the human could voice his confusion, Zach again felt that gaze upon him, almost at full intensity once more. “One of them being humans, raiding our camp. Cutting down innocents to dust.” Grillby turned back to Sans, “And yet you trust this one.”

“yup.”

The bartender reached up to adjust his glasses with what sounded like a sigh, before him and Sans shared another meaningful stare, this time for even longer. 

Eventually, Sans noticeably relaxed, and the smile on his face turned almost jovial. “...thanks grillbz. i owe ya.”

Grillby tilted his head.

“yeah yeah, in addition to my tab.”

“Wait, he lets you keep a tab? Like for real?” Sans looked at Zach with a raised brow ridge, before the human looked at Grillby, “Shit, you really _do_ trust him.”

And with that legible hint of amusement on Grillby’s face, Zach knew he was in the clear. Sans laughing was a nice addition as well. 

“hey, he knows I’m good for it. it’s just my wallet is…” Oh god damnit, “ _b_ _one dry_ lately.”

Both hands met Zach’s face for a moment, both for him to sign into, as well as hide his begrudging smirk. “Is this your actual plan? Slowly kill me with bad puns?” He looked at Grillby, “Maybe we should go back to the idea where you incinerate me. Sounds less painful.”

What was just barely there before was now very easy to see, the bartender silently chuckling before shaking his head slightly. “Now I see.”

Zach wasn’t entirely sure what that meant, but it was something good. He missed Sans’ annoyed and somewhat flustered look directed towards Grillby.

“ _a_ _nyway_. the real reason we came was to get Zach here something to eat. haven’t gone grocery shopping in a bit.”

The bartender turned to look at the human, thankfully without the previous animosity. Though the silence that ensued for the next couple of seconds was almost awkward enough to make up for that.

Finally, Sans nudged him, “buddy, whatcha want?”

“Oh, uh I’ll just have a burger. I’m not picky.”

Grillby moved to the fridge without a word, and was working at the grill in a matter of seconds, all in near total silence. Zach looked at Sans, “Why is he suddenly…?” He zipped his lips with a quizzical look.

The skeleton let out a quick laugh, “grillby just used up his entire yearly quota of speaking. you should feel honored.” Sans turned towards the cooking elemental. “if he chatted you up anymore, i’d start to think he was going soft.” The only reaction from the bartender was a small, dismissive wave.

A few minutes and a return to the front of the bar later, Grillby set the finished burger down on the bar. “Thank you.” Zach said with a small nod, that rumbling feeling in his stomach roaring to life now that food was placed in front of him. It took an effort to not just start tearing into the sandwich. He glanced at Sans as he picked it up. “So you’re _sure_ that Tib isn’t going to come running back in here with a bunch of guards behind ‘em?”

The bartender was the first to respond, with a simple but firm nod. Sans elaborated as Zach dug in, “it would’ve happened by now. i bet they figured grillbz was just finally collecting on my tab. tib’s probably back at home, wondering when the bar’s gonna re-open.”

To be honest, Zach was barely listening. He knew he should have been, this was important but… even both monsters could tell from his expression that he was more focused on the burger. 

“looks like you’ve got another fan grillbz.” The skeleton said with a large grin, leaning over to elbow the bartender.

Zach swallowed and looked up from the meal, “Yeah, it’s uh, pretty good! What’s in this thing?”

Sans smirked, “it’s a burger, kid, i know you humans have those.” The skeleton shrugged lackadaisically, “other than that? magic mostly. it’s how us monsters make a lot of our food.” 

“...well damn.” Zach laughed a bit before going back for another bite. He wasn’t lying. It was pretty damn good. Although with how hungry he’d been feeling, he bet even the cheapest burger wouldn’t taste too bad at the moment. It’s just that there was something else going on, something that had caused a little hitch in his laugh. One that Grillby seemed to have noticed if the tilt of his head was anything to go by. 

But as was his nature, something Zach was quickly growing to understand, the fire elemental didn’t say anything else, and just went back to work, getting the bar ready for the day ahead.

Normally he took his time while eating, but somehow, Zach managed to finish the burger in barely more than a minute. Sans stretched out with a grunt before hopping off of his bar stool, “well, now that my human’s fed and watered, i figure it’s time to head back home.”

“What am I, your pet?” Said human snarked, as he wiped his face with a napkin.

“i mean we already discussed getting you a collar. just fed you. figure the next step is taking you for a walk and making doggo jealous.” Zach was growing to loathe that self-satisfied grin Sans had at moments like this. In no small part because he didn’t _actually_ loathe it nearly enough!

He got up after handing the plate over to a very nonplussed Grillby, glad he wasn't giving either of them a look over those comments. “Thanks again.” Zach said before casually turning back towards Sans. “I swear to god if you don’t stop, I’m gonna strangle you.” 

The skeleton nodded sagely, “mhm, so you’re saying no to the collar. you’re more of a _choker_ type of guy.”

“I-” Zach stopped himself with a shake of the head, “Let’s just go.” He didn’t need to look, to know that Sans was still grinning wildly as they exited the bar.

“so that’s a yes? sounds like I really got you _tagged_.” 

What an asshole. Now he had him struggling to hold back a grin too.

It only took a couple minutes for them to get back to the house, thankfully not encountering anyone on the way that did more than just smile and/or wave. Also thankfully, Sans seemed content enough with the previous puns to stop… for the moment at least.

When they stepped back inside into the warmth, Zach let out a sigh before walking over towards the couch, all but flopping down onto it. He felt exhausted after just that simple little trip for something to eat. And… he had a sneaking suspicion why.

“so, was figuring I should ask you something.” Sans broke him out of his thoughts.

He sat up, noticing immediately that the skeleton looked a good bit more serious now, even if Sans had kept his tone somewhat casual. “Oh. Well, good; me too. But you can go first.”

“back in the bar, when things were getting all intense…” Sans waved his hand distantly, “i could tell that grillbz, he uh… he tried to start a FIGHT with you.”

Zach tilted his head, confused, “Okay? I kind of already noticed that. If you hadn’t been there he would’ve roasted me. I was there too, Sans.” Why was he stating the obvious?

But apparently it _wasn’t_ obvious, if that grunting head shake was anything to go by. “no, you-” Sans let out a sigh, “when a monster tries to FIGHT a human, it causes the human’s soul to emerge.” A bony finger jabbed him right in the center of the chest. “yours didn’t. i didn’t even see a hint of it.”

He looked down at his chest, a flood of information and vague memories of the game suddenly registering in his mind. “Uh… That’s...” Zach looked back up at Sans, “I mean, I didn’t do anything, if that’s what you’re asking.” But he already knew it wasn’t.

Sans confirmed that, “between that and the fact that nothing happens when a monster CHECKs you…” The skeleton rubbed at one of his own shoulders, his expression that of someone about to say something they _really_ didn’t want to. “i'm starting to think i should run some tests on you. like, the scientific sort of tests.” He shook his head and grumbled, “course, doing it without al’ noticing is tricky.”

Several questions now ran through Zach’s head. What did this mean? What sort of tests? Was Sans a scientist and he’d forgotten or something? That and a few other, more nebulous ideas filled his mind. But he brushed them aside for the moment. “Okay, well, here’s another weird little tidbit about me for your skull.”

That brought Sans’ attention back from his own pondering.

“I just ate a whole, full sized burger. And earlier, I had some bread. Not the biggest meal in the world, sure, but it should’ve filled me.” He reached down and set a hand over his stomach. “Sans… I don’t feel ANY less hungry. In fact it’s gotten worse.”

“...what?” The skeleton sounded genuinely shocked by this.

Zach continued, having an unfortunate idea already, “You’re talking science, so uh… I’ve got a hypothesis for you.” He paused, unsure if he was being too out there or not, but the way Sans was staring at him told the young man to continue. “All this talk about you checking me, and my soul emerging. That’s all magic stuff. And it’s not working on me. And… you said monster food is mostly made of magic, right?” He gulped and licked his lips, frightened of the implications of what he was saying. “Sans, I could feel that burger _dissolve_ in the back of my throat as I swallowed.”

For a heavy, painful moment, all the skeleton did was stare at him, his mouth slightly agape. “i…”

And just like that, the front door swung open. “SANS! I JUST HEARD-!” A tall, lanky figure stopped mid stride, their hand still on the door, about to push it back shut. They stared with empty sockets at the two of them, glancing back and forth several times. Then, they gasped loudly.

“BROTHER!” Papyrus shouted, “WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME WE WERE HAVING COMPANY?!”


	7. Output Error

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You'd really think I'd be able to do better then one a month, but apparently not! But hey, better then some then none I suppose, all that jazz. Anyway, thanks again to everyone who's left feedback, it gives me a sense of accomplishment! (And lord knows I need that like a goddamned junkie)

“SO HOW DID YOU MEET MY BROTHER?”

In moments like this… Well, Sans was always appreciative of his brother’s unending optimism and friendliness. But he was especially so at the moment.

“Oh ya know, just his hotdog stand by the city. Grabbing something to eat on my way back from work.” It was said casually, and the ‘totally-not-human’ was smiling and nodding in a pretty convincing way. If he didn’t know any better, Sans would describe Zach as relaxed.

Of course, considering who he was talking to, he just might be. Papyrus was always good at bringing the best out of people. Sans considered himself proof of that.

In spite of a slight bit of initial confusion, with Papyrus mentioning that there was word going around about him and some out of towner getting into trouble at Grillby’s, things had settled down quickly.

Being the ever gracious host that he was, his brother had immediately declared that he needed to make their guest a meal with the groceries he’d also brought home. Then he politely but firmly denied Zach’s attempts to help put away said groceries, as well as the offer to help him cook said meal.

So now there they were, his brother working on his latest masterpiece in the kitchen, Zach leaning against the nearby wall to watch, and Sans himself seated on the couch absorbing everything.

“I CAN’T HAVE YOU THINKING OUR FAMILY CAN ONLY SERVE GREASY JUNK FOOD! NYEH HE HE HE. NO OFFENSE OF COURSE, BROTHER!” He didn’t have to look to know that Papyrus had winked at him.

“course not paps. it’s  _ oily _ the truth.” And cue the loud, irritated groan from his brother.

“YOU’RE GOING TO SCARE YOUR FRIEND AWAY IF YOU KEEP MAKING JOKES LIKE THAT.”

“Don’t worry, he’s not getting rid of me that easily.” Zach replied, as Sans began to sink into his own thoughts, staring at the TV. The sound of both that and the noise from the kitchen fading away into the background.

Combined with what he’d observed so far, as well as the human’s own revelation from a few minutes ago, the skeleton was starting to draw some.... unfortunate conclusions.

The first and most obvious one was thus; Zach was in serious danger of starving to death down here.

Monsters didn’t make their food the same way as humans. He knew that had been true even before being banished underground, but even more so after the fact. Although they technically had the means to grow crops with things like greenhouses and artificial lamps, it was far easier and faster to stimulate a plant to grow with magic. What would take weeks or even months could be done in a few days, and left said plants with a significant magic infusion into their very structure. And meat? Well it was most often made from those same plants, only with an even more intense use of magic to alter the taste and texture.

None of that had ever been a problem for the kid though. Heck, he was almost 100% positive that monster food even had similar healing effects on them as it did with everyone else underground. 

But Zach? That audible gurgle his stomach had made when Papyrus had mentioned making him a meal indicated it was unlikely he’d just been talking out of his ass earlier.

And as worrying that all was, it also led into the second bit. The part that had Sans even more perplexed, and unnerved at how many unforeseen implications it could have. The part that had him sorely tempted to just grab the human right this second, and take a shortcut right to the labs.

“Hey.”

Sans flinched, swerving his skull towards the voice, realizing that Zach was now standing right next to the couch. And looking at him, mildly concerned. He gave a sheepish laugh, “heh, caught me zoning out. guess that’s what i get for sitting down in front of a mettaton variety hour rerun.” Which wasn’t completely untrue.

“BUT THAT’S ONE OF THE BEST EPISODES, SANS!” And Papyrus’ disbelieving interjection gave all the reason as to why he couldn’t say more.

He rolled his eye sockets, “ya need anything?” He asked Zach.

“Just checkin on ya.” The human replied with a small shrug, before glancing upstairs. “Papyrus said he’ll be done in a bit, figured I should ah, ‘freshen up’.” He leaned in a bit, quieter as he continued, “You guys don’t have a toilet, do you?”

“huh?” Sans stared in confusion.

Zach straightened back up just before the skeleton realized what was being asked. “It’s fine, I’ll figure it out.” He assured quickly before making his way to the stairs.

Sans began to stand up, “hey, wait a-”

What happened next was… disorienting. That was the first word he’d use to describe it.

Sans had experienced being tossed, and lurching about, in his life. In many different circumstances. Helping Papyrus train his blue magic, what felt like a lifetime ago, first came to mind. As did memories of the very first times he used his shortcuts. So in a sense, Sans was accustomed to the feeling.

Which is what made things all the more confusing, as the next moment was both very much like those times, and simultaneously  _ nothing _ like them. He fell back onto the couch with a grunt, dazed.

It was as if instead of him doing the lurching, it had been the world around him doing it.

He looked up to see Zach splayed against the bottom of the stairs, holding onto the banister with an iron grip. “Was that an earthquake?!”

Okay, so apparently that hadn’t just been a  _ him _ thing.

“MY SAUCE!” The panicked bellow of his brother immediately drew both of their attention. Moving towards the kitchen, they saw a distraught Papyrus, standing over a spilled pot of reddish brown liquid. After a quick sniffle, he turned his gaze up to them, “ARE YOU TWO ALRIGHT?”

The fact that not just Zach, but also his brother had experienced the disorienting occurence sent a few thoughts racing through Sans’ head. “you felt that too bro?”

“YES OF COURSE!” Papyrus said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. He then directed a thoughtful look towards Zach, “HRMMM, YOU SAID EARTHQUAKE, RIGHT SANS’ FRIEND? I THINK I REMEMBER LEARNING ABOUT THOSE ONCE! I’VE NEVER HEARD OF ONE HAPPENING HERE THOUGH!”

“they uh… happen sometimes near the core. pretty rare though.” Not so rare that he hadn’t ever felt one himself however. Which is how he knew that what just happened  _ was not _ an earthquake.

Maybe it was the way the skeleton said it, but Zach was already side eyeing Sans in a way that said he was catching onto that as well. 

It was an explanation that seemed to satisfy his brother though. It probably helped that he was distracted by the mess on the kitchen floor. “SADLY, WE DON’T HAVE ENOUGH TIME TO PREPARE ANOTHER SAUCE. SANS AND I HAVE TO GET ON OUR AFTERNOON PATROLS VERY SOON!” Papyrus explained about as apologetically as possible. He genuinely loved every chance he got to share his cooking. “PERHAPS WE SHOULD GET AN EARLY START, AND GO CHECK THAT THE REST OF SNOWDIN IS OKAY?”

“i don’t think that’ll be necessary bro. wasn’t even big enough to knock things off the shelves. so not like houses are gonna be knocked over or anything.” Sans was actually pretty sure that nothing had  _ physically _ moved around them. Not spatially at least…

“PERHAPS NOT, BUT WE SHOULD MAKE SURE THAT THE PEOPLE OF SNOWDIN KNOW WE CAN ALSO PROVIDE MORAL SUPPORT IN A TIME OF NEED!” Papyrus answered, with a pose as noble and heroic as he could muster. Sans still wasn’t sure how he managed to get his scarf to flap like that, even while indoors. Ever thoughtful, his brother turned towards their guest. “WOULD YOU CARE TO JOIN US? I KNOW YOU ARE NOT PART OF THE ROYAL GUARD, BUT I COULD DEPUTIZE YOU FOR THE AFTERNOON!”

Zach gave an amused smirk and crossed his arms, “You can do that?”

Papyrus pointed a finger in the air dramatically. “OF COURSE!” He then squinted and glanced to the side. “I think.”

A few minutes and a cleaned floor later, the three of them were out the door.

Sure enough, there wasn’t any property damage from the ‘quake’. It didn’t even look like the snow had been shaken from the branches of trees. Not to say the village was totally unaffected. 

Monsters were milling about the town center in a state of mild confusion and tension. And when Papyrus approached to do his part as the noble guardsman, they all spoke of the same weird jolt.

Thankfully, the sense of unease was already subsiding by the time they’d got there. It had been such a minor thing, after all. The residents of Snowdin more or less all agreed that it was probably nothing to worry about.

“I’M GLAD TO SEE OUR PEOPLE HANDLING THIS CRISIS SO WELL. TRULY, THE ROYAL GUARD HAS SET A POSITIVE EXAMPLE FOR THEM ALL. CERTAIN MEMBERS PERHAPS EVEN MORE SO!” Papyrus beamed. “THIS CAN ONLY REFLECT POSITIVELY ON MY PERFORMANCE RECORD, DON’T YOU THINK SO SANS? SANS’ FRIEND? THIS SKELETON IS ON HIS WAY TO A PROMOTION!”

It was always nice to see his brother like this. It was one of the few things he still didn’t mind getting a repeat of. And even more so; teasing him when he was like this.

“i dunno, you want me...  _ tibia _ honest?” Sans answered, holding back a snicker as his brother began to scowl and Zach grumbled to his side, “your record might be getting too good. might make the rest of the royal guard look bad. they’d have to lum- _ bar _ your entry.” His grin grew a bit wider as they both groaned, “sorry, just  _ patell _ -in ya how i see it.” 

Papyrus scoffed and stamped his foot, “YOU AND YOUR AWFUL JOKES!” He cried out, before slowly affixing him with a... familiar grin. “BESIDES, ANYTHING CAN BE POSSIBLE BROTHER. YOU JUST NEED TO PUT A LITTLE MORE… BACKBONE INTO IT! NYEH HE HE HE HE!”

With his brother’s near infectious laughter, he could see Zach struggling out of the corner of his sight, before the guy finally spoke again. “Fuck, I can’t believe you’ve done this.” He shook his head with a look on his face, making Sans wonder if that had been some kind of joke he missed.

The ‘monster’ dramatically turned his back on two of them, “I’m surrounded by traitors to the cause. Stab me in the back why don’t you?”

Sans chuckled, “what cause?”

Zach shook his head as if they were speaking of the gravest matters possible. “That most noble of causes.” He somehow managed to look back at them with the straightest of faces. “That of decency, of righteousness, of… jokes that don’t completely suck.” A quick moment of silence passed, before he could no longer hold that serious look, and broke down in a snicker.

Sans grinned back dumbly. He was positively tickled. Having someone able to play along with him was already a rare treat. That it was both him and Papyrus was even better. In spite of everything else going on, for a moment he just felt… happy.

“WOULD YOU LOOK AT THE TIME! WE HAD BETTER GET STARTED ON OUR PATROLS, SANS!” Papyrus suddenly announced, clasping his gloved hand together, “SANS’ FRIEND, I WOULD GREATLY APPRECIATE IT IF YOU COULD ACCOMPANY MY BROTHER TO HIS SENTRY STATION. YOU SEEM RESPONSIBLE ENOUGH TO STOP HIM FROM SLACKING OFF. AND I AM CERTAIN HE HAS SOME SORT OF ILLICIT SNACKS THERE TO SATE YOUR HUNGER!”

The fact that his brother was encouraging a ‘monster’ he knew wasn’t part of the Royal Guard to accompany him on a patrol stunned Sans. He normally would expect Papyrus to insist that was against protocol or something. Before either him or Zach could say a word though, his brother was already off, at a breakneck speed. “AND REMEMBER TO CALIBRATE YOUR PUZZLES SANS!” 

The two of them stood there in awkward silence for a moment.

“Well…” Zach finally broke the silence, “He’s just as nice in person as he was in the game.”

Sans whipped his head up, “huh?” It took him a split second to remember, “oh, yeah. uh… good to know.” He snorted in amusement as his thoughts began to truly process that idea. “just realized something. if we really are game characters where you come from, we’re probably sort of famous, right? including my bro?”

“I mean…” The human looked to be carefully deliberating on his answer. Sans wasn’t sure why though. “Yeah, I guess you’d say that. Even years later I was still seeing stuff like fanart online. And I wasn’t someone who even really looked for it. Just popped up every now and then. Papyrus included.”

He smiled a bit wider for a second, “heh, good to know there are people who can appreciate how cool my brother is. he’d probably go nuts knowing he has fans.”

For a few seconds, Zach stared at him quizzically, focused on his face seemingly, but didn’t say anything. 

“do i have something on my face?”

He quickly shook his head, “Nothing, nothing. Your brother would have said something if it was important.” The human began to walk down the snowy path, into the forest.

“alright?” Sans was a bit confused, but didn’t push further.

“Anyway yeah, definitely puts his all into things, huh? It’s admirable” Zach said, turning the conversation back towards the previous topic. “Not to mention taller in person then I would’ve expected. With how loud he speaks I’d expect him to be intimidating, but he just comes across super nice.”

The skeleton let out a chuckle, “wow, sure are gushing about my brother. makes a skeleton wonder if he should be jealous.” He gave a nice wriggle of his brow ridges, sort of wanting to make the guy flustered again. Sans couldn’t help it if it made the human look cute.

Instead, Zach stopped walking, and gave him a deadpan look, “...yeah you caught me. Totally looking to have sex with your younger brother. Just  _ crazy _ horny for him.” The smirk he directed at Sans was so casual it was devilish, “And here I thought I was being discreet.”

Part of Sans supposed that it was sort of appropriate, having his own attempt to fluster turned back around on him like this. The other part of him wanted to pull his hoodie up and disappear into it. Papyrus. Both the source of his strength, and as it turned out, his greatest weakness. At least… talking about him like that.

“Hah, holy crap. So that  _ is _ what it is.” Zach’s laugh and comment were perplexing enough to get him to respond.

“what  _ what _ is?” He found himself grumbling for a chance. Damn humans. Maybe they really were all evil after all. 

Zach explained with a small laugh, “Earlier when we were joking around, your cheek bones started to kinda glow blue. Sort of like they are now.” Sans only realized now that it was being pointed out, that his face did feel warmer. Damnit. “Well if it makes you feel any better, it looks way more interesting than when human’s blush. Guess that art was accurate.” The last part was something he barely even heard. It was only when Zach suddenly stopped again that it actually registered.

“oh no.” He suddenly realized what that earlier look had been. It was a look he recognized from Alphys.

“Okay listen.” Zach turned around, “The internet is a big place. There are people that will be… that way about anything. And I may or may not have seen the results of that once involving this game.” The young man took a deep breath, “Do you  _ really  _ want to go down this path Sans? Cause I don’t.” Another moment of awkward silence passed, “If it makes you feel any better it wasn’t of your brother, okay?”

And just like that he spat out a laugh, one so hard it took him a moment to recover. Sans was practically wiping tears from his eyes. “actually, yeah, it does. i appreciate you telling me” He relaxed a bit and looked Zach in the eyes again, “...so did they draw me sexy?”

His human threw his arms up and turned around, “Jesus what is wrong with you?”


	8. Catching Exceptions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, I somehow managed to get a chapter out in (barely) less then a month! I know, I'm amazing, hold your applause.
> 
> Anyway, I'm always open to comments, critique, suggestions, and basically any form of validation for this thing called a fanfic. And I really appreciate all of you that have done so already! But my self-esteem is a ravenous monster that is never sated.
> 
> Now then, onto the show!

The snow covered forest that greeted them across the wooden bridge was almost picturesque really, with how the conifers were delicately coated in that way you’d normally only expect to see right after a fresh snow. It mystified him as to how that was possible, much less that trees were growing like this at all, what with them being  _ inside _ a cave. Zach supposed it was something he would have to ask Sans about later, preferably when things weren’t so nuts. 

Supposing such a time ever came. 

That thought made him sigh and shake his head. He shouldn’t be getting caught up in his thoughts like that. The answer was probably just magic anyway.

“so uh. how’s that stomach treatin ya?”

Zach looked over, wincing slightly as he did. “Well, I  _ had _ been able to ignore it until you brought it back up.” He smirked as he said it, trying to let Sans know it wasn’t that bad.

Judging by the concerned look the skeleton was now giving him, Sans wasn’t buying it. “i’ll admit caring for humans isn’t my area of expertise, but even i know that you guys need food. and apparently monster food doesn’t cut it for you.”

Well this was just great. As sweet as his concern was, Zach knew that there wasn’t much point dwelling on the subject. “Listen, I’ve got experience with going a couple days without eating.” He could tell it was coming, so he explained before Sans asked. “The miracles of being a broke college student. So I know it’ll stop bothering me in a couple hours.” And that it would rear its head again a few hours after that with renewed ferocity. He was gonna leave that part out for now.

“things were that bad for you?” It struck the human how long it had been since someone had sounded this concerned for him. He felt the urge to laugh once more, but instead he just shook his head with a smile.

“It could’ve been a lot worse Sans. I mean up until this whole mess, I hadn’t even died  _ once. _ ” Zach could already tell, without even looking, that the monster probably didn’t find his joke that funny.

“i mean, i can kind of relate.” Well, that hadn’t been the response Zach was expecting. Judging from the small laugh coming from him, Sans could see the surprise on his face. “yeah, things weren’t always the best growing up. there were a few years where it was just me looking after paps, back when he was still a baby bones.”

“...something happen to your parents?” It wasn’t like he didn’t already have a feeling, they hadn’t ever been mentioned, either by Sans or Papyrus, or in his memories of the game.

The beleaguered sigh that Sans made told him he was right. “you could say that. it’s… really complicated. don’t feel like going into that whole story right now.”

Zach was quick to let him know that was fine, before the skeleton smirked a little, “but ya know, as tough as it was, taking care of papyrus all by myself? i don’t think i could’ve made it on my own, not without him there to give me a reason to keep going.” The two of them slowed to a stop, and Zach found himself locking gazes with Sans. “so, guess i’m saying you’re stronger than me in that area at least. it’s admirable.”

“I… thanks.” He was at a loss for any further words. Concern and a compliment. God, how lonely had he been these past few years, if that alone was enough to make him so dumbfounded? That a freaking skeleton from stupid internet memes was making him react like he was back in high school and talking to a crush?

No... that wasn’t fair to Sans. He had to stop thinking of him like that. They were in this mess together. 

Zach shook his head and chuckled, “To be honest, I was just motivated by something way less wholesome. Spite. Whenever I thought about giving up, I just thought about the day my parents cut me off. I wanted to succeed in life and then rub it in their faces.”

“well, whatever keeps ya going, huh?” Sans started back down the path finally, and he followed suit. “...wonder if that would count as a kind of DETERMINATION...”

The way he said it, combined with that look on his face let Zach know that Sans was now deep in contemplation. 

Sure enough, the two were pretty much silent until they stumbled upon a very long, narrow patch of ice, lined by a thick grouping of trees. “This supposed to be here?” It looked almost smooth enough to be ice rink worthy, and Zach didn’t see any other way forward.

“mhm, part of a puzz.” Before he could ask Sans to elaborate, the skeleton casually stepped forward, sliding down the icy path while standing completely still.

Well… this certainly wasn’t something he’d been expecting.

A few seconds later, Sans came to a stop where the ice gave way to snow once more, a little while after the lining trees also gave way. “it only really works one way, meant to slow humans coming towards snowdin.” He heard a grunt, and turned around. The sight had the skeleton break out in laughter.

“Shut up.” Zach finished dragging himself along with the support of the lining trunks, and now fiercely clung onto one of the last trees before the path of ice widened out. It was a struggle to balance, his feet slipping a few times as he hugged the narrow tree to keep upright, while his face scraped up against the bark.

“what’s wrong man, gettin cold feet?” The human didn’t acknowledge the joke with so much as a look in Sans’ direction, instead staring down at his own feet, as if that might somehow help them from slipping. It wasn’t like he’d lived up north or anything, so he had only gone skating once before. And small Zach had been just as bad at it as adult Zach. Now how the hell was he going to get over to the snow without falling on his face or ass? 

He was so focused on that question that he didn’t notice what Sans was doing, right up until he was being prodded on the back. “Huh?”

Zach turned his head to see the short skeleton had slid back over, and was looking up at him with a gently teasing look in his eye sockets. “ _ icee  _ you might need a little help.” A gloved hand was offered, “may i have this dance?”

For a second, he just stared, first at the hand, and then up at Sans himself. “...if you try anything fancy, I’m just gonna fall all over you, you know that right?” Zach let go of the tree with one hand and grabbed onto Sans’. He ignored the warm feeling in his face, dismissing it as a result of rubbing it against the trunk.

“wow, that all it takes? don’t even need to wine and dine ya?” A slight tug was enough of a signal to get Zach to let go with his other hand, and before he knew it, the two of them were sliding along.

“Y-Yeah, what can I say, I’m a cheap date.” He laughed nervously, staying ramrod stiff on the way over. He was so convinced that he was gonna fall over, that when they met snow, Zach was taken by surprise. “Whoa!” He stumbled forward, barely catching himself by leaning against Sans’ shoulders.

“geeze, you weren’t kidding. can’t keep your hands off me.” It wasn’t something he could see from the current angle, but if he could have, Zach might have realized that his face wasn't the only warm one right now.

The human pulled back immediately, shoving his hands into his pockets, “Yeah yeah. You’re uh, perfect handrail height.” He looked around, finding the trees much less dense here, which seemed to be some sort of small plateau. 

Sans looked to be without a care in the world, which only made Zach feel all the more conscious about his pronounced reaction. “you insinuating something about my height?” The skeleton smirked, “careful, i’m told i’ve got a  _ short  _ fuse.”

The added wink was enough to get Zach shaking his head and starting on once more, a small smile gracing his face, “Whatever you say, you bony midget.”

Zach was glad that there wasn’t any more mandatory ice skating from that point on at least. There were another few patches, but they were small enough that it was easy to either avoid them, or skid across without help. He asked about the shapes he saw on the ground as they went, having a vague memory regarding the colored lines he kept seeing.

Sans confirmed that they were indeed parts of puzzles, most of which were designed by his brother.

The next several minutes were largely uneventful, aside from having to duck by one guard post while Sans chatted up the guard. Doggo, he explained, mostly relied on his sense of smell. As such, he’d pretty quickly realize that Zach wasn’t a rabbit monster, and get suspicious. The human went along, and decided to ask about the burnt dog treats on the ground at a later date.

Finally, they arrived at an empty wooden guard post. Although to Zach, it looked more like someone had left a lemonade stand out in the snow. “welcome to my home away from home.” Sans said as he leaned back against it, “want me to give you the grand tour?”

Zach crossed his arms and chuckled, “Geeze, you sure? I mean, it’s so damn opulent. Would there even be enough time in a single day to show me all the rooms?”

Out of seemingly nowhere, Sans’ face tightened up. “wait, what time is-'' Before Zach could even get a word out, the skeleton had already pulled a phone from his pocket, eye sockets going wide. “shit. can’t believe i-'' He shook his skull with a frustrated grunt, an increasing level of panic on his face, shoving the cell back into his hoodie before looking back at Zach. “just… head back to the house okay?”

And before Zach could so much as blink, Sans was no longer there. It was so sudden that it made him fall back in shock, falling right on his ass in the cold snow. He blinked. “...the fuck?!” He quickly pulled himself back up, leaning against the stand for a moment. 

Okay, so apparently Sans could teleport and that had somehow escaped his knowledge all these years? Although now that he thought about it, Zach did get a vague feeling that he had read or seen something to that effect before.

Had what just happened been in a show he was watching, it would’ve looked like a cheap edit, like two shots spliced together without proper continuity. Which… was probably how teleporting should actually look, right? Not a weird fade effect or whatever? The absurdity of this line of thought hit him. “This place is making me insane.” He muttered to absolutely no one, only further cementing the point. 

Sans said he should head back to the house, so he should probably be doing that. Not to say he was exactly glad he’d more or less been ditched without an explanation, but he didn’t have much else to do. He was getting cold anyway, to the point where the entirety of his hands were getting numb, not just the fingers, even with keeping them shoved in his pockets.

He was gonna have to ask Sans for a coat or something, if he wanted Zach to be out here for more than an hour at a time. His sweater on its own wasn’t cutting it.

The cold was bothering him enough, that he only really noticed that the crunch of footsteps behind him when they started to get loud. “Sans?” He turned around, and instantly felt a jolt of fear run through him.

Only a couple of yards behind him stood a kid. One he instantly recognized. Not that it was hard, when there could only be one other human down here.

It was startling, as well as incredibly  _ wrong, _ to see first hand how young this kid was. They couldn’t be more than ten at most. Their hair obscured their eyes at this angle, but Zach could tell they were staring right at him, expression otherwise blank. And they were holding a knife. 

For several seconds, Zach became acutely aware of the icy wind and rushing river. They were booming in his ears, along with his heartbeat, as they both stood there. Finally, he took a breath.

“Hey there.” He said, with a voice far, far calmer then he felt, while forcing a placating smile, “You wanna put that knife down?” It was just a kid. A kid that was giving off a terrifying air, brandishing a knife, and still unmoving, but a kid none-the-less. He had to stay calm.

He gave a small wave, still smiling, “My name’s Zach by the way.” And still no response. “I’d really appreciate it if you put that thing down.” 

They tilted their head a bit, “You’re what stopped it.” Their head straightened back out, “You aren’t supposed to be here.” Their voice was small, even for a kid their size, and yet they said it with a sort of steady, flat, certainty. The kind that was stating a fact, and brooked no argument. 

“Yeah well-” A sudden presence out of the corner of his eye startled him, his head whipping over to find Sans emerging from the trees. 

“there you are. you trying to give me the slip or some-” The skeleton stopped mid sentence, as he seemed to only just now realize Zach’s presence. “damnit.”

He had to at least try and defuse the situation. “Okay, let’s all just calm- SHIT.” The young man quickly stumbled back as the knife was swung right where he’d been a moment ago. 

The kid was fucking fast. And unrelenting, continuing in on Zach, taking another swing, and then trying to stab when that missed. As he did his best to dodge, continuing to move back, he was finally able to catch a glimpse of the kid’s eyes. They were an unnatural red, and completely crazed. 

It all took course in only a couple of seconds, during which the young man’s instincts finally kicked in enough for him to react in a way other than dodging. Seemingly possessed or not, he still had a major height, weight, and strength advantage on a kid. He ducked down and made a grab for their swinging arm.

“FUCK!” He gripped on tight, even as a sharp bolt of pain exploded in his palm and shoulder, and hefted the kid up, using his other arm to wrap around them and squeeze them close to prevent them from kicking free. They continued to struggle of course, and Zach imagined that if it weren’t for the adrenaline coursing through his veins, they might’ve been able to break free. 

He registered only then that he had what must be a large gash along his hand, the same one tightly squeezing the kid’s wrist, preventing them from doing more than weakly wave the knife around in the air, as well as an even deeper one along his shoulder. “Drop the knife!” He shouted, panting for breath, heart racing wildly.

“zach!”

It was only then that he remembered Sans was indeed there, and was currently standing in the same place before, staring dumbfounded. Which wasn’t exactly the most useful thing he could be doing at the moment.

“Get over here and help me!” Zach was desperate at this point, able to feel his own blood running down his arm now.

It was then that something wrapped around his ankle, and yanked before the young man was even able to look down. His leg was pulled out from under him, and in the moment he fell back, Zach realized that he’d backed up towards the edge of the river in the struggle.

His back smacked against the surface of the icy water without enough force to knock the breath out of him, and in the next instant, they were surrounded by the sort of cold so intense that it wrapped around to almost feeling hot again. An awful burning sensation, one that was all encompassing. It was shocking to the body, and it took several seconds before Zach could get his arms and legs to cooperate in the slightest.

But the water was dark and churning, making it impossible to tell up from down. Hypothetically he knew he could hold his breath for a couple of minutes. But right now, it felt like he couldn’t hold it for another second, like his lungs were going to burst.

Zach had, of course, let go of the kid in the plunge without realizing it. It was something that hadn’t even remotely crossed his panicking mind. Not until the burning pain was suddenly added onto, a sharper, more vivid point, of a blade being shoved into his leg.

Instinctively, his body wanted to gasp in pain. 

Zach wasn’t sure if the water flooding his lungs caused him to pass out, or if the kid managed to stab him again in a more vital location.

All he knew was that he next found himself desperately gasping for air in an increasingly familiar basement.

“...what the…?” After a few seconds of picking himself off the floor, and getting his breathing under control, he swore. “God damnit!”

Again?! He’d died again!

At least he knew what to do this time, heading up the basement stairs to find Sans once more. They had to figure something out. Had to.

Right as he rounded the corner of the back of the house though, he stopped. Or rather  _ was _ stopped. 

A familiar sensation around his ankle. The same one that had occured right before he fell back to his cold, watery death. Zach looked down, and saw a tendril of roots wrapped around his leg.

“Well now aren’t you a fresh face!” He didn’t recognize the high-pitched voice, but he knew who it belonged to in an instant.  _ What _ it belonged to. “Oh but where are my manners, I haven’t introduced myself!” The roots curled higher around his leg, squeezing tight, as the speaker emerged from the ground in front of him.

“I’m Flowey! Flowey the Flower! And you and I are gonna have a nice little chat!”


	9. Halting Condition

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew, another chapter done before the month is out. I know to a lot of folks it's a slow pace, considering the length of the chapters, but for me this is practically blazing fast! Regardless, hope you're all enjoying it!

It had been quite a while since they’d done something like this. When you could appear almost anywhere a plant could sprout, it was easy to learn just about any secret you wanted without having to bother actually talking to people. But in all that time they’d had to themselves, all those resets as they’d gone mad with an uncaring, unloving sort of boredom, Flowey had ‘interrogated’ a few hundred monsters. It had gotten dull pretty fast. 

A _human_ though? They’d never done it to a human before. It was actually… exciting.

The copse of pines behind the house of smiley trashbag and _ wasn’t what Flowey would call an ideal spot mind you, but they hadn’t been willing to wait for their target to get to a more secluded spot. But it was enough to hide them from sight, and that was all they really needed. As long as the human wasn’t _too_ stupid at least. But just to be safe...

“I don’t need to tell you what happens if you try and scream, right?” Flowey punctuated the point by curling a thick tendril around the human’s throat, and giving it an ever so gentle squeeze.

The human held a stoic face as he nodded silently, but it was so easy to tell that he was terrified. Oh, the way Flowey could feel it under their grasp, how he was trembling where he stood, muscles tensing in panic, heartbeat pounding! The soulless being drank it in. The far more physical nature of a human was making this such a different experience. 

But look at them, they were getting distracted.

“Good. Look at you, being smart.” They cooed with a large smile, though the tendrils didn’t loosen. “Zach, right?” That was what that skeleton had yelled before Flowey decided to take things into their own hands. After all, questioning the human at that moment would have been… difficult. Not impossible, but difficult. So they figured triggering a reset would be the far more simple route.

Zach nodded again, the human’s hands curled into tight fists at his side, his body still shaking. “So what do you want?” His voice was rough, no doubt from the tendril still around his neck.

“What I want? Why, I just wanted to know what a human was doing down here! Not exactly a common occurrence, you know. Of course, you probably don’t, do you?” The fact that the reset was going to wipe the memories of everyone except themself and... the other human was a bit annoying in this case, but it didn’t matter too much. What Flowey really wanted to know was something that had to have happened before the save point, otherwise they wouldn’t have been able to find Zach so quickly. 

A few slow, unsteady breaths passed before the human answered. “...I don’t know.”

“Oh? You mean you just ended up down here by accident? No clue what happened?” They asked with markedly insincere concern, right before they tightened their grip on both the legs and throat, choking the human while keeping him firmly in place. Flowey’s face contorted into a malicious grin. “I know you’re not telling me something. It’s not nice to keep secrets from a friend.” Up this close, Flowey could tell when someone was trying to hide something from them. And the human reeked of it. They wrapped another tendril over his mouth right as they loosened their grip on his throat, to make sure he could only breathe in through his nose, instead of loudly gasping for breath. “And you wanna be my friend, right Zach?” Flowey winked, “It’s so much better then the alternative after all.”

When Zach’s breathing had slowed back down enough a few seconds later, they released his mouth. It was almost impressive the way he immediately fixed a glare at them, after what Flowey had just demonstrated they could do to him. “...that depends. If we’re _friends_ , does that mean you won’t murder me again?”

The jolt of shock that went through them in that moment was enough to make their bonds on Zach momentarily loosen. But before the human could appreciate that, they immediately became even tighter than before, now with his hands bound up as well, as Flowey got up right in his face. “You _know_!” A purely demented laugh echoed forth, as Zach tried to struggle against the binds. 

It was so obvious! Another human showing up in the middle of all of this, just like that? _Of course_ he would be immune to the resets in the exact same way. They were so excited that they forgot they were strangling said human until he started making a creaky sort of sound as he tried to breathe. Which was just something Flowey would have to file away for later as a fun sound that humans could make. “Whoops, silly me!” They loosened their grip on Zach’s throat before immediately going back to their thoughts. There were more important things right now then thinking up new torture methods, after all.

“Flowey.” Of course the human would interrupt said thoughts. And with the gall to sound angry! “Why do you look so happy about that? Do you know what it means?”

They stuck their tongue out a bit, “Hrmmmmm. Sure do!” And they laughed in the human’s face once again, although with less outward malevolence. “It means you’re why Chara got so confused earlier! You’re the reason they couldn’t reset!”

“...What?!” Flowey’s grin only widened. The look now on the human’s face was very informative. The fact that what they said clearly meant something to him, instead of just causing dumbfounded confusion, meant that they already knew quite a lot.

“Mhm!” They continued, still grinning cheerfully, “They got bored in the middle of the ruins, tried to reset, but couldn’t! Then, soon as you kicked the bucket, BOOM! Reset!” And here Flowey had thought at first that it was just Chara being weird. But as soon as they spotted another human, they knew something had to be up.

A dismissive snort was an unexpected enough response to totally draw them out of that train of thought. “Oh, well congrats on using my death for your experiment. That totally makes it all okay.” Deadpan sarcasm wasn’t what Flowey usually expected when someone was in his grasp.

“Oh you think you’re funny?” Flowey smarmed, right up in Zach’s face once again, making him grimace, before cackling. “Well at least it’s better than the old lady and trashbag’s sense of humor!” They tilted their head, “Speaking of, what were you doing with that annoying lump?”

”You mean Sans?” Zach squinted at them, “Why do you even care?” 

“Mhm, does it matter why I care?” They cooed as they ever so slightly tightened the grip around his neck once again. “It’s pretty suspicious that I found you right outside his house.”

The rustling branches right next to them caused both Flowey and the human to pause and look over. “what’s going on out he-” The skeleton looked startled, to say the least.

“Oh of course, I jinxed it by even talking about you.” Flowey scoffed, even though they knew that it made sense for Sans to show up. They were only a few feet away from the back of the house, and the flower had been a bit loud in their excitement. Still. “Why do you always turn up to ruin my fun?” They let out a sigh and turned back to Zach, “Well, looks like I’ll have to finish another time. You behave till then!”

And with a carefree smile, several more tendrils wrapped around Zach’s throat, and squeezed tight. A moment later, Flowey learned the amount of force required to crush a human’s neck.

* * *

You think he’d be used to it by now. Seeing people he cared about die in front of him.

“Oh, what’s wrong, confused?” With a blank stare, he looked back up, where Flowey was smiling at him like nothing was out of the ordinary. “It’s just a human after all! I was doing the underground a favor.” They giggled, and his non-existent stomach churned. “And don’t worry about the clean up, I’m sure Chara’s gonna reset before ya know it! Not that that means anything to you!”

For a moment, he was tempted. Tempted to grab hold of the soulless little abomination and show them that he knew exactly what that meant. Along with dozens of other things he’d managed to keep a secret from them. Just to throw it in Flowey’s face, to spite them. But no. Instead, he just stood there silently as the murderous plant ducked back down beneath the snow, disappearing back to who knew where.

It struck him now, that in spite of the several times he’d been on the surface, and the dozens of times he’d ended the kid’s life… he’d never seen a dead human before. At least, not for more than the split second it took for the reset to happen. Sans was just so used to seeing a body fade to dust in a few moments, that part of him wanted to reach out and shake Zach. Get him to wake up. The way the human’s eyes were staring unblinkingly, still open as the body lay there, told him that wasn’t about to happen. He still got down on his knees and tried though. Prodded him. Nothing happened. 

“you’re really dead, huh?” Sans murmured, feeling nothing but a horrible emptiness that he was all too familiar with.

He knew of course, that Flowey was right. That he’d see Zach again sooner rather than later, and that unlike with everyone else, Zach would remember, so he wouldn’t have to lie to his face and pretend like he hadn’t seen him die.

That didn’t change how he felt. Change the fact that for a second time now, Sans had just _stood_ there like the idiot he was, and failed the human in the exact same way he’d managed to fail everyone else he knew. How had he fooled himself into thinking that it was somehow going to be different? That things were going to get better? With a sad, broken laugh, Sans realized it was the exact opposite. He’d made things _worse_. Because of his actions, an innocent person had been dragged into the same exact hell he was in.

At least all the others could live in ignorance. Not have to deal with the knowledge that none of this mattered. That even if things were going great, it could all be erased, and snapped back to square one in an instant. It was a cold comfort, sure, but it gave Sans something to latch onto.

But no, because of his own fuck up, his cowardly attempt to end it all, Zach was going to be subjected to the same exact thing he was.

And he’d been _glad!_ Glad that he had someone who could understand what he was going through. Ignoring how understanding meant suffering. Ignoring how disgustingly selfish that happiness was. And deluding himself into thinking once again, that maybe he could fix things.

Ha, what a joke! Sans the skeleton, the complete waste of space, waste of everyone’s time, fix something? What a sad, pathetic joke. Appropriate, coming from a sad, pathetic joke.

With a small, shaky breath, Sans felt something he hadn’t felt in a long time. Tears were forming, and starting to drip from his eye sockets, before falling down into the snow.

He wasn’t sure how long he stayed there like that, kneeling in front of Zach’s corpse. Only that it was however long till the next reset happened.

* * *

The first thing Sans did upon reset was immediately shortcut down to the basement.

“Whoa! Jesus Sans you gotta-” The startled human was startled even further into momentary silence, as he hugged him.

“...‘m sorry.” Much like the first time Papyrus had been dusted, it was like his mind needed solid proof that this was real, and that Zach was physically there. A few moments of feeling the human’s warmth and weight against him were just that. Right before he could pull away though, and much to Sans’ surprise, Zach started to return the hug.

“Heh, sorry for what, the hug?” Zach gave him a slight pat on the back, and let out a deep breath that sounded far more relieved then he’d expected before breaking the contact. “Don’t be, I uh… think I needed that too.” He looked around a bit, seemingly avoiding eye contact for a moment, “Or did you mean about the whole... ya know?”

Sans just looked at him for a moment, and although he didn’t intend it, apparently that look spoke volumes.

“I um…” Zach’s face went through several, slight expressions as he opened and closed his mouth, before the human shook his head. “Something tells me that you’re gonna blame yourself no matter what I say.”

Shit, was he that obvious? “i did kind of just stand there zach. ya know, while you were murdered. twice.” He couldn’t honestly mean he didn’t blame Sans, right? This was just his attempt to make things less tense between the two of them, seeing as he was more or less stuck with the skeleton.

“Twice?” Zach’s face screwed up for a moment before he waved that off, “Okay, I’m willing to compromise and say that you freezing up back near the river wasn’t exactly the best. Sure, fine. But are you seriously saying you could have done something when Flowey already had that vine or root of his already around my neck? What, were you gonna try and cut it off or something? Would’ve sliced my throat in the process.”

Was he seriously forgiving him right now? “zach, buddy. you don’t seem to-”

The human stopped him, “Okay look. If you’re going to feel guilty no matter what, how about you do me a favor to make up for it?”

Sans couldn’t help but let out a laugh. There wasn’t a favor in the world that could make up for what he’d done. But as Zach began to look around the basement, already picking up and inspecting random bits of scrap and tools that were still lying around, he figured he’d bite. “what’s the favor?”

“First, I kind of want something to protect myself in case that fucking flower tries that again.” Sans nodded. Even if the idea of a human in possession of a weapon still made him uncomfortable, it was a reasonable request. “And then, I wanna go to that lab I know that lizard woman has, and we can do some of those tests you mentioned.”

Oh. Right. He’d gone and planted the false idea that there was hope in Zach’s head. And now he had to tear that away from him, because he was awful and could only make people miserable. “zach… listen. i don’t think those tests will be that helpful. it was wishful thinking on my part.”

The basement fell silent for a few moments, as the human stood up from whatever he’d been inspecting to turn around and look at him. “So you don’t even wanna try?”

Sans winced. That simple remark managed to cut deep. And before he could try and say anything in response, Zach continued. 

“Let’s say you’re right and it doesn’t do anything.” He threw his arms up, “So what?! What do we have to lose Sans? At worst we’ll be keeping ourselves busy.” The young man then leaned back against the basement wall, head downturned, suddenly looking far more haggard then a moment ago. It took Sans a moment to realize what had just happened. Probably because he wasn’t used to being on the other side of it.

“you don’t have to fake it for me man. like everything is okay. like... you’re okay.” 

The smile that spread across Zach’s face hurt. Hurt because Sans could recognize the sort of pain that it didn’t even try to conceal. “Sans, bud… don’t flatter yourself. I’ve been faking it for years now for _myself_.” He pushed himself back off the wall, accompanied by a quick shake of his head. “Fake it till ya make it man. So for now, I’m gonna keep faking it.”

A different smile was now directed at Sans. And this time, he could almost believe that it was sincere. Almost. 


	10. IndexOutofBounds

“you’re sure you want a weapon?”

Zach only paused a moment before he continued rummaging through the mess of parts and tools. A lot of them were pretty damn filthy, some with charring, others with grease. “Is that a problem?”

“...no.”

Another pause, along with a slight frown, and this time he stood up and turned around. “Sans, it’s just for self defense.”

“i know.” And yet the skeleton still stood in the middle of the basement, practically motionless, as he had been since Zach voiced the idea.

Zach sighed, reaching up to comb a hand through his short curly hair, before thinking twice of it. Good way to end up with who knows what up in his hair. “You know I’m not gonna snap like the kid does the moment I get one in my hand, right?”

Sans stared at him for a moment. “...i know.” There it was. With just that slight hesitation, Zach suddenly understood.

“But… knowing doesn’t make it _feel_ okay, huh?” The way Sans closed his sockets and let out a sigh, told the young man that he had been right on the money before the skeleton even said another word.

“it really isn’t your fault. just me being stupid.” 

Now _that_ made Zach almost reach out and smack Sans across the skull. Or himself, for not realizing it sooner. 

He managed to rein it in to a disgusted scoff. “Sans? Shut up. Nothing about that is stupid.” He was the stupid one here for not thinking this through. “Look, it was fucked up to have to deal with basically being stabbed to death once already. And I… You’ve had to deal with way more than that.” Zach shouldn’t need to have a degree in psychology to realize that might be just a bit traumatic. But it hadn’t occurred to him till just now.

Sans looked shocked at first, but that quickly faded into something more contemplative, before he shook his head. “still, i owe you that favor, right? least i can do is get over my own crap.”

He began to make his way over, but Zach quickly stopped, “Don’t.” He smirked a bit, “I mean, if we’re being totally honest here, a weapon would be more for my own comfort then actually helpful.” It wasn’t like he was trained in that sort of thing. He’d probably be more liable to hurt himself rather than Flowey. “Besides, those bunny ears are already a bad enough disguise. The added attention of carrying a weapon around is too risky.”

A moment of apparent deliberation passed over the skeleton’s features, before Sans shook his head, “hey now. good money was spent on those ears.” He smiled, “hypothetically speaking. some human must’ve bought ‘em before throwing them away.”

It took several seconds for Zach to properly process and connect exactly what Sans had just said, before he facepalmed with an audible smack that echoed off the basement walls. “You cheap ass motherfu-” He couldn’t even finish the sentence without a snort that broke into full on laughter. Hard too. Maybe it was just from the sheer emotional whiplash, combined with the insane stress he’d been through in the past… timespan. Or maybe it was the image now stuck in his head, of Sans’ lower half poking up out of a trash pile as he fished out those stupid ears. But Zach found himself trying and failing to fight back tears as he cackled.

Apparently, his laughter was contagious, as soon after, a different laugh joined his own. Deeper and slower. It took a moment, in between trying to catch his breath, to realize that that was definitely Sans’ laugh. A genuine one, as he also realized it was the first time he’d heard more than a small chuckle or bark out of the skeletal comedian.

It was… really nice. He liked how it sounded. Like a lot. A lot a lot. The small shock of realizing that was enough to have his own tear-inducing laughing fit finally die down. 

“God.” Zach shook his head, feeling drained, in a good way for once, as he wiped the tears that had started to form. For now, he compartmentalized his previous thought for later consideration. “I think we both needed that.” 

His laughter hadn’t been as hard, but it was clear from the look on his face, as well as that slight blue glow to it, that Sans felt much the same way. “what were we even laughing about?” He asked with a final chuckle.

“Man I have no idea. Nothing? Everything?” Zach shrugged, still feeling that pleasant glow. For just a few moments, he was going to let himself enjoy it. Sans too. A silence filled that basement, but for once, it wasn’t the awkward kind. Just a content bit of time where nothing needed to be said. 

But of course, that couldn’t last forever. And when he felt it start to pass, Zach took a deep breath, rolled his shoulders, stretched his neck, and spoke once more. “So, you ready to head out?”

“sure. just let me go text al. she’ll freak out if we just show up unannounced. wait here.” And before the human could even agree, Sans was already gone. He flinched a bit at the sudden absence. Not the full on stumble back like last time, but Zach doubted he’d ever get completely used to that.

As he waited, the previous mention of texting drew his thoughts back onto something he hadn’t considered in a hot second. He knew it wasn’t going to have changed since last he looked at it, but there was still a small part of him, hoping against hope that a miracle had happened during one of the resets. Better crush that hope before it got too big, Zach figured as he reached into his pocket.

He sighed. Sure enough his phone had absolutely no service, just like before. Which made sense. Even if he _wasn’t_ in a separate reality, the Underground was essentially a very large cave. His phone couldn’t even manage the subway. It was probably for the best though. Roaming charges got bad enough for using your phone in a different country. He didn’t wanna imagine what they’d be for trying to use the service in a different universe. 

But right before he slipped it back in his pocket, something out of place on the screen caught Zach’s eye. Well, it actually _wasn’t_ out of place, which is why he had only now realized how off it was. The small icon for his wi-fi connection was still there. It wasn’t reading as strong; the opposite in fact, none of the bars were full, and neither were the two arrows underneath. 

For a moment, he wondered if it was just a glitch. Maybe this was a bug that happened to phones that were teleported to alternate universes. He imagined that wasn’t a standard part of stress tests. And then the two arrows blinked on. 

“HOLY SHIT.” A million different thoughts rushed through his head all at once. What should he do?! Call for help? Put out a message on his feed so that his few friends knew he wasn’t dead in a fire? Google ‘help with getting stuck in an alternate universe’? Right as he grimaced at how dumb that last one was, the arrows blinked back off.

Zach froze up, thinking that this might finally be the thing, in all of the utter insanity of the past few days, that broke him. And then the arrows popped back. Unlike last time though, he was silent enough at that moment to hear something. A very faint humming buzz. He turned, and realized it was coming from the wrecked piece of machinery that had apparently brought him here.

Slowly, he approached, one eye still on his phone, watching those dumb little arrows like his life depended on it. For all he knew, it might right now. 

They went out again, and the sound stopped. Not even a moment later, it came back again, along with the arrows, and he spotted it. Right there, where he could barely see through a hole in the damned thing, was a very small bolt of electrical current, arcing off a frayed wire into the metal shell. “How-?” 

With a loud crack of a zap, the arc of electricity intensified for a split second, making Zach flinch back reflexively, before a small puff of black smoke started to rise out of the hole he’d been staring at. That… couldn’t be good. “Please.” He whispered a plea to whatever god or deity might be listening, and looked back at his phone.

And the gods must be laughing, because his wi-fi signal was now completely gone. “Oh come on!”

“somethin wrong?”

Zach spun around and just barely caught himself from whipping his phone at what he realized in that split second, had to be Sans. He clutched his chest for a second, “Jesus man, don’t do that! Gonna give either me a heart attack or you a concussion.”

The skeleton gave a slight tilt of his skull. “riiiiiight. so you okay?”

“Yeah I-” Zach shook his head. “Did she answer back?”

It was a transparent dodge of the question, but Sans acquiesced. “took a couple minutes but yeah.” He winked, “i’ve got a folder of outdated memes that always get her attention.”

“Well that sounds evil.” He flatly responded 

“thanks.” Sans gave him a look, and Zach sighed beleagueredly.

His now all-but-useless phone was back in his pocket, though he was now far more cognizant of its weight than before. Right now, he had a distinct feeling that that puff of smoke meant that it was going to remain that way. At least… for this reset. “It’s nothing we can do anything about right now. I’ll tell you about it later, okay? Right now I wanna go do those tests.”

A raised brow ridge was pointed his way before Sans shrugged in surrender. “alright. long as you promise that, no skin off my bones.”

Zach grimaced slightly, “I know that was meant to be another pun but... ew. Now I’m _picturing_ that.” He shook his head, trying to get rid of the image.

That got a small chuckle, “what? you picturing me as a human or something? you think i’d be that ugly?” 

Oh if only. Why couldn’t have his brain just conjured that sort of scenario instead of… Actually, if Sans was that curious, he’d just share it with him, only fair. “No, I’m just picturing you but with a thin layer of skin over your bones. You know, without any of the muscles or fat or anything that would make the image stuck in my brain any less unsettling.”

A moment passed, where he could only assume Sans was now picturing it, before the skeleton answered with a louder chuckle than before. “wow! that _is_ gross.” He gave Zach a pat on the back, “i’ll have to keep that in mind for future pranks i pull on you. thanks for the idea.”

The human just groaned, earning another pleased smile from his friend.

“anyway, i figure we’ve given alphys enough time to get ready.” He held a hand out for Zach to take. “never taken you on a shortcut before, have i?”

He stared down at the skeletal hand for a moment, alarm bells already going off in his head. “You sure that’s a good idea? We’ve already seen that me and magic don’t get along. Even assuming it’ll work in the first place.”

Sans was silent, before he looked up again, his eye sockets now blank, smile tight. “that flower might still be waiting out there.” A chill ran down the human’s back, in a way he hadn’t ever quite felt before. “i don’t plan on giving it another chance to hurt you Zach.”

For a moment, he wasn’t sure what he was more afraid of. Flowey, who had _murdered_ him, or… Sans. 

It was striking, the way the guy changed; like the flip of a switch, just emanating a hollow, anguished rage from that empty grin. He had assumed that he’d seen the harshest extent of that hate when he first met Sans, and the skeleton had suspected him of being behind things. Zach now realized that was wrong; that at least, had been an anger tempered by uncertainty. This was a totally different beast; one he could feel in the air, heavy and suffocating.

And just like that, as quickly as it came, it was gone; as the look on Sans’ face turned to one of shock and shame. Had the fear on Zach’s face been that obvious? He began to lower his hand. “i-”

The human quickly took the hand and held it firm. “Let’s do it.” He said, nodding with a small, uncertain smile as Sans tried to process what had just happened, clearly ready to try and protest and apologize. His smile grew more certain, his grip on the hand growing firmer. “Come on man. Fuck that stupid plant, and let’s do this thing! Besides,” He laughed, “I wanna be the first guy from my universe to have ever teleported.”

Another moment of confusion passed across Sans’ face, before the skeleton finally smiled a bit more genuinely again. “...i mean didn’t you already teleport to get here in the first place?”

Zach waved that off with his other hand, “Details. Now come on. Beam us up.”

Sans tilted his head dumbly, “huh?”

For a moment, Zach just stared back, before closing his eyes. “Shit. Right. You’ve never seen Star Trek or anything like… god I hate this whole alternate universe...” He threw his other hand up in protest, “There goes like, 50% of my identity!” He exclaimed, somewhere between sincerity and joking.

Sans sniggered, “right, so i’m just gonna uh, ‘beam us up’.”

If witnessing it happening was disorienting, then actually _being_ teleported felt akin to an out of body experience. Or what Zach could only assume one of those was like; because while his eyes saw that he was clearly no longer in the basement, a significant portion of his brain rebelled at this new impossibility it was being subjected to. He fell forward onto his hands and knees, gasping for air and trying not to retch, as his inner ear violently clashed against his visual cortex. It took some time for him to recover to the point where he could actually process what was going on around him.

First, he realized that while things didn’t look like a lab, they certainly weren’t in either the basement or Snowdin. It seemed more like… well like an actual cave, dark and damp, albeit with some dim lighting that was just enough to illuminate things. Zach had a dim idea of where they were from memories of the game. 

Second, “...you okay?” Right next to him, Sans was seated on the ground, and sluggishly prodding at him.

“Kinda.” As he turned over into a seated position as well, he used a sleeve to wipe his face of the cold sweat he only now realized he’d broken out in. He still felt incredibly nauseous and disoriented. “I never wanna do that again.” 

“mhm. fair.” Glancing over, he realized he wasn’t the only one looking worse for wear. Sans didn’t look sick, but he did look like he was just about to pass out; eye sockets clearly straining to stay open, and swaying a little even while seated.

Zach reached out to grab a shoulder and steady him, “Are _you_ okay?”

Sans gave a tiny laugh, “taking a shortcut over a long distance like that takes a lotta magic. and taking someone else for the ride takes even more.” The skeleton shut his eye sockets for a moment and had to clearly fight to open them again. “and if i had to guess, the way you seem… resistant to magic, acted like a resistor in a circuit.” He glanced up towards the ceiling, which Zach now saw was dotted with tiny points of light. “nearly used up all my magic and didn’t even get us halfway there.”

“But you’ll be alright. Right?”

Another small laugh, almost a... giggle really. Were he not worried, Zach might even think it cute. “just need to… recharge. that’s all.” And just like that, Sans’s sockets closed, and he slumped over against the human, out like a light.

Now, Zach knew he _should_ be worried. Sans had passed out, they were out in unfamiliar territory, who knew how far from their actual destination, where Flowey could theoretically still find him, and he didn’t have so much as those dumb ears as a disguise should some other monster stumble upon them.

So _why_ could he not stop staring down at Sans, the way his stupid skull was resting against his chest with a sort of weight and presence that was giving him a lump in his throat, and how the slight rise and fall of the skeleton’s chest with every slow breath he took made his own chest feel tighter?

“...god damnit.” He knew _exactly_ why. Of course he did. Like he’d said earlier, he wasn’t stupid. He’d just been trying to ignore it, and push the thought to the back of his mind. Only now, with nothing to distract him, just the calm sounds of running water, and the feeling of Sans sleeping against him, Zach had no choice but to confront it head on.

Zachary Dunn had a big dumb crush on Sans the Skeleton. And he _hated_ it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In addition to thanking Azira for being a wonderful beta as always, I can now also thank them for making some fantastic art for this fic!
> 
> https://64.media.tumblr.com/c2cddd9ce04ca7e9ffdfe050420a4c8f/438c2fff49eebbf8-14/s1280x1920/d02b4c66d0db36376227b74f8ab2f9e9c1934852.png


	11. Accessing Attributes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter folks. Enjoy! And thanks for all the comments and kudos!

A splashing sound was the first thing that greeted the slowly waking skeleton’s hearing. Not a large one, but the softer kind; like the last plops of water into the bathtub after shutting off the faucet, or when Papyrus was in the middle of washing the dishes after another round of pasta training.

It not being accompanied by his brother’s energetic humming meant Sans was able to eliminate that possibility from his still half-slumbering mind. Maybe he’d just left the sink on a bit or something? He couldn’t remember right now, and he already was close enough to falling back asleep that he didn’t wanna put in the effort of opening his eye sockets to check.

Another similar splash, followed by grumbling was enough to rouse him from that attempt. It wasn’t Papyrus, but he still recognized that voice for some reason. Slowly it began to dawn on him that the ground beneath sure didn’t feel like the couch or his bed, far too firm and cold, which was enough to properly wake him.

Sans rubbed at his face as he began to sit up, quickly remembering where he was and what he’d been doing. He- no, _they_ , were somewhere in the wetlands after his haphazard attempt at shortcuting to the labs. Another splash grabbed his quickly sharpening attention, the sound followed swiftly by grumbled swears. “...the fuck do people…” Zach was standing a few feet away with his back to him, standing right at the edge of a stream.

He watched as the human pulled his arm down low and back, before swinging it forward, which was followed by another splash. Sans tilted his head, completely at a loss to what his new friend was trying to accomplish. “why’re you throwin rocks in the water?”

Zach quickly turned around, a bit surprised perhaps, but not with the sort of jolt Sans had seen before. “You’re up!” 

“nah this is just me sleeptalking. i’ve been told it sounds surprisingly lucid.”

“Cool, yeah. Seriously though, are you feeling okay? You did kinda pass out.” Normally he’d be a little miffed about a joke being completely brushed aside like that; but that it came from Zach being genuinely worried about him meant Sans could overlook it.

“relax. you’re not getting rid of me that easy.” He stood back up, looking around for a moment to try and determine where exactly they were. “also you didn’t answer my question. quit _stone-_ walling.”   
  
Zach looked down at his hand as Sans grinned, and then dropped a couple of rocks that he’d apparently still been holding as he shook his head a bit, “Nothing just… got bored and was trying to skip stones.” He snorted, “Keyword there being ‘trying’.”

Got bored, huh? “how long was i out for anyway?”

“Little less than two hours now.” He smirked and gave a slight shrug, “I actually tried to carry you, but that only lasted a few minutes. Figured it’d be hard to avoid scrutiny if anyone spotted me hauling you around. Not to mention…” Zach rubbed a shoulder and laughed, “I didn’t expect a goddamn _skeleton_ to be that heavy.”

Now, normally Sans would use this as a prime opportunity to pun some more; act offended, throw in something about being ‘big- _boned_ ’, the usual.

Instead, his train of thought just kept tripping up on the fact that Zach had carried him. Only for a few minutes, sure, but he was just stuck on that mental image. And he couldn’t tell why. Was it because Papyrus had only ever done that before? Probably, that had to be it.

He’d gotten so stuck on the thought that he realized Zach was staring at him, waiting for some kind of response. “sorry, still waking up.” He shrugged casually, “and what can i say, i’m a growing boy.”

Zach squinted, before his expression shifted, into what Sans now recognized as the face the human made before asking a question. He did his best to ignore the strange giddy feeling that accompanied the realization he was starting to be able to read his new friend. “How old are you anyway?”

Sans thought for a moment. “in human years or monster years?”

The young man steepled his fingers in front of his mouth. “...if you’re fucking with me right now, I will punt you into this water, little man.”

Sans laughed, “i’m little now? what happened to me being heavy?” He shrugged again with a shake of the head, “seriously though, my birthday was uh… _technically_ a little over a month ago. so i guess you could say i’m thirty.” ‘Technically’ was carrying a lot of weight in that statement of course, and it only took a moment before he saw Zach grasp that fact.

“Sorry.” The apology almost made him roll his eyes.

“don’t be.” He said instead, before giving his vertebrae a little stretch, “we should probably be heading out though. much as i hate to rush and all, but i did tell al we’d only be a few minutes.” And Zach had said he’d been out for almost two hours.

“Oh yeah, should’ve said so already.” Said human interjected, pulling something from his pocket. Sans quickly recognized it. “I heard it vibrating a little while after you fell asleep. Long story short, I texted her that we, or you I should say, ran into something and would be late.”

He gave his phone a quick look after Zach handed it over, before nodding. She must not have any of her cameras around where they were, else she would’ve been freaking out way more in her messages. Even in text, Alphys was bad at hiding her nerves. 

Speaking of which, Sans now realized he’d have to send a few more details if they wanted to make it to the lab safely, now that his shortcuts were effectively off the table. Like mentioning the nature of his company

He slipped the phone back into his hoodie a couple minutes later. “Everything okay?”

“should be.” 

Wasn’t the most comforting thing to say, yeah, but Sans wanted to be honest. Although he did leave out the part where he was worried that Alphys would go and tell Undyne, in spite of the promise he got from her to not do that. There was honest, and then there was _too_ honest. He grunted, as he tried to find the right way to say the next bits. “kay, so here’s the deal. if anyone asks on our way there, i’m doing my part as a royal guard affiliate and escorting this newly caught human to the king.” He could already tell that Zach was going to have questions.

“Okay, two questions.” Sans almost laughed. Only two? The poor guy really must be starting to trust him or something. He’d half expected a couple dozen. “First, I don’t exactly have cuffs on or anything like that. Ya know, the sort of thing that you put on a prisoner… or whatever we’ll be calling me. Won’t that look suspicious?”

It still struck Sans, every now and then, how different human society was to monster society. “way overestimating how paranoid most monsters are, man. unless it’s a member of the royal guard, they won’t even consider that.”

That answer seemed to satisfy Zach, but he continued. “Well that’s my second question. What if we run into one of the Royal Guard? ‘Specially uh… fish lady.”

Sans tilted his head, a bit confused, but grinning. “you remembered my name just fine, but couldn’t remember undyne’s?” He wasn’t sure if he should be flattered or something. He never thought of himself as all that memorable, especially in comparison to someone as striking as Undyne.

Zach facepalmed, “Look, yours and Papyrus’ names are… I don’t know if this is true here, but in my universe they’re the same as…” He wriggled his fingers in the air as if trying to grasp something, “I’m completely forgetting the word. Point is they’re easy to remember. Also, not the point right now!”

He ignored the slight, unexpected sting that accompanied the explanation. “we won’t. simple as that.” While it wasn’t nearly as good as Papyrus’, he still had a pretty solid grasp on Undyne’s route for the day, and the couple of different permutations it could make. Sans tapped his skull with a distal phalanx, “know the paths to avoid, all right up here. don’t worry.”

The young man considered him for a moment, before giving Sans a begrudging smile, “I mean you’re asking the impossible of me. But I’ll try and keep it to a minimum, how’s that sound?”

“driving a hard bargain, but i guess i can work with that.” They started on their way down the dark, damp path.

Zach looked over at him after a few seconds, “You never answered my question by the way.” Sans rose a brow ridge, “About the whole years thing. If they’re the same or not.” 

Ah. Sans chuckled, “well you already know so much about me. only fair if i get to keep some things a mystery.”

While he’d been joking, Zach seemed to take that answer surprisingly seriously. Sans slowed to a stop, as did the human. 

“And you barely know a thing about me.” It was barely above a whisper, sounding almost to be talking to himself just as much as Sans. “It’s funny. Most of the stuff I’ve told you, are things I’ve barely told anyone. But nothing like… the normal stuff.” He shook his head with a smile that was far too sad for Sans’ liking, before starting to walk again. “I’m 26 by the way.” Zach glanced back, his smile not quite as sad. “Figure it’s only fair if I try and even things out a bit.”

* * *

“okay uh… favorite food?”

The young man sharply scoffed as they walked along the narrowing path, “Man I hate that question. I like so many different kinds of food, I don’t wanna have to pick a _favorite_! It’s like asking a parent to pick their favorite child!” 

“yup. totally the same, those two things.” He was only being mildly sarcastic, Sans could appreciate the dilemma of struggling to decide things involving food. He hadn’t been planning on playing twenty questions on the way, but the human had insisted; it was kind of enjoyable as it turned out, getting to know Zach a little better.

So far, he’d learned the guy’s birthday (September 3rd), that ‘Zach’ technically wasn’t his name (and that he hated being called the full version), what he did for work (customer support and grocery clerk, as well as freelance software development), and his favorite color (‘uh… blue?’). He didn’t fail to notice that the human had been looking at him while answering that last one.

“I might as well be pulling from a hat. Also you son of a bitch, you made me think about food too much, and now I’m hungry again!” Zach accusingly bemoaned that last bit, and Sans chuckled in mild shame and amusement. 

“sorry. at least it seems to reset every time, right?” He did feel honestly sorry, knowing that it was a problem that wasn’t going to be solved easily or particularly soon.

“Yeah, I start off as mildly peckish with every one of these it seems. Why couldn’t I have eaten something before I tried to make that cup of tea?”

“scuse me?”

The human shook his head at Sans’ question, “Nothing. Hey while we’re ono the topic…” Zach squinted at him, “Is it true that you drink like, ketchup, by itself, or am I misremembering something?”

Now, usually, he’d just say ‘yeah’ like it was no big deal, and then probably pull out the small bottle he kept on him, to drink from as an example. Sans found it was a fun way to get folks to squirm or freak out. But at that moment, with Zach looking at him like that, the skeleton found himself feeling unusually self-conscious instead. Like he was worried what the guy was going to think of him after seeing that. It was a confusing thing to realize, and Sans wasn’t sure where it was coming from. But Zach was still looking at him and... he couldn’t just _lie_. 

“maybe?”

Zach blinked in what appeared to be bewilderment, “...maybe I misremembered? Or maybe you drink ketchup?”

He felt like he was about to break out in a sweat. “...yes.”

To his immense relief, that got Zach laughing. “God damnit Sans.”

“got any hobbies?” He asked, hoping that would be enough to transition away from any more questions about him and ketchup.

Of course the universe dictated that it would only grant that wish in an unpleasant way. The bemused scoff that Zach let out told him this was apparently a sore topic. “Hobbies require free time. And I can’t say I have… or had, a lot. Usually too exhausted to do much more than watch something, listen to music, or just browse the internet.”

Yikes. It was in a very different way, but that was something Sans found himself relating to far too easily. “so what, you’re telling me there’s nothing you like doing?” He pressed.

Thankfully, that did seem to draw something out of the young man, judging by the contemplative look on his face. To Sans’ surprise, Zach actually looked a little embarrassed as he spoke up. “...I like electronic music. Making it.” The skeleton nodded for him to continue, “I used to mess around and make junk on the computer when I was younger. Dumb stuff, but there was just… something about being able to mess around for a few hours and end up with a song that wasn’t completely awful.”

He didn’t understand why in the world Zach sounded so self-conscious, why he was looking at him like he was gonna laugh or something. “i’d like to hear it sometime. i bet you’re good.” 

Zach scoffed again, shaking his head with a more genuine smile. “Please, I’m mediocre at best.” He paused as if realizing something. “That was actually how I ended up hearing about the game in the first place. Guy who made it is a composer who’s stuff I’d listened to. The soundtrack was good.”

Soundtrack? It hadn’t occurred to Sans, but he supposed that, yeah, there would be songs and stuff for a game. Hard to imagine what that would be like though. Songs playing around him as he went about his life. “weird.” He muttered before looking at Zach more directly. “anyway that’s something, right?” 

He wanted, so badly, to tell Zach that he’d have time to get back to it, once they had figured all of this out. Maybe introduce him to Napstablook, he was pretty sure he’d heard they were into that sort of thing too.

But Sans couldn’t. The idea that this could actually be solved... it was such a foreign concept to him at this point, one he didn’t even _want_ to consider. If he did, he’d just be setting himself up for crushing disappointment. Zach too. He didn’t want the human to experience that pain. That false hope. It would be bad enough as it was, watching as the guy was beaten down the way he’d been, till all that was left was...

“What about you?” The question brought Sans out of his destructive train of thought, with a jolt.

“huh?”

“Hobbies. Do you have any?” Zach smirked, “Aside from thinking up your puns and shit. Which I’ll admit, probably does take you a decent amount of time, just to distill them down to the point of peak terrible.”

A grin spread across his skull, “i mean you’re not wrong. they have to spend a while, aging in my handcrafted j _-oak_ barrels.”

As the guy laughed, it was impossible for Sans to not realize the way his human had just pulled him out of his head with near expert timing, right before things got too bad. It made his soul flutter, and he wondered for a moment, if it hadn’t just been pure chance; that, out of all the possibilities, out of all the beings in existence, there was a reason that it was Zach that had been yanked across realities, to be dropped right in front of him. 

“Fuck me, I’ll admit that one was actually pretty good.” Once again the human’s voice brought him out of his train of thought, and the skeleton quickly brushed those ridiculous ideas away.

“i’m here all week.” He said, stopping to bow theatrically for a moment.

Zach shook his head as they continued on, “Seriously though, anything else you like to do?”

Sans considered the question, “well, i like astronomy.”

“Really? Do you have like a tele-” The human caught himself mid word with a sharp wince. “Sorry. Must be a… difficult hobby to have down here.”

He shrugged to brush away Zach’s pity and discomfort. “i mean, i have gotten the chance to actually look. handful of times on the surface lasted long enough.” He purposefully leaves out the fact that his memories of those times aren’t nearly as clear as he’d like them to be.

“I never really thought about it too much myself. Living in or near cities all my life means too much light pollution to actually see much. Crazy to stop and think about though.” Zach looks over at him, “If you wanna hear some of my music, then I’ll trade you. You can take me the next time you go stargazing.”

It’s an absurd proposal. He knows the chances of that ever happening are extremely minute. But for just a moment, Sans can’t help but picture that. The two of them near the top of Mt. Ebott, with his dumb telescope that’s been fixed up, with nothing to worry about. Just taking in the night sky in all its wonder. It’s such a beautiful image that it hurts. 

And that’s how he knows it’ll never happen.

For the second time recently, he finds himself feeling like he’s about to cry. He manages to fight it back this time. “...sounds like a deal.”


	12. Null Reference

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for a slightly longer wait then last time, but to make up for it, I present you with the longest chapter so far. Please enjoy!

“Y-You’re certain about this? That th-they’re not dangerous?”

You didn’t have to be looking at his face to know that Sans was rolling his eye-lights right now. Zach could tell from behind and several feet away. “answer hasn’t changed since the last four times. seriously al, guy’s the most harmless human i’ve ever met.”

“A-Also the only human you’ve ever met!” Said human knew that wasn’t correct. Well, it might be argued to be  _ technically _ correct, what with the way time wasn’t exactly behaving itself.

“details.”

Alphys looked about ready to have a conniption, either that or a minor panic attack. Neither would be very helpful right now. “They don’t even have any r-restraints!”

“You do know I can hear you, right?” The way the yellow lizard jolted at his voice told Zach that no, she’d thought her not so quiet whisper was sufficient. Or she’d forgotten that he was just on the other side of the room.

“Oh! Ha- hrm- uh…” Alphys’ nervous squirming and stammering proved enough to replace his expression of fatigued annoyance with an apologetic sigh.

Sans spoke up, locking gazes with the other monster. “c’mon alphys. you know i wouldn’t be calling in a favor like this if it wasn’t important.” He said it with the sort of sincerity that Zach could tell was rare for him.

“I…” Her posture tightened up, and a bit of sweat was now visible on her face. Apparently he’d been right on the money, if Sans was able to get her like this by saying something like that. After a moment she let out a deep breath, and relented. “Okay. B-But I’m accompanying you through the tests!”

“what, worried i’m gonna get stains all over the equipment?” 

Alphys blinked, “I mean… I wasn’t until you brought it up just now.”

Zach knew the actual reason of course, but he had a hard time exactly blaming Alphys. Of course she didn’t trust him, especially not alone with one of her friends. “Speaking of, where is the equipment?” When they’d first entered, he’d just assumed that this room was the lab; but having time for more than just a cursory look as she and Sans spoke, meant he realized that this couldn’t be all.

“It’s uh, further inside.” Without another word, the lab-coat wearing lizard turned and made her way towards a door.

With a grin and a nod, Sans urged him to follow along, as he in turn followed Alphys.

In some ways, the fact that Alphys looked more… physically possible in regard to the laws of physics as he knew them, threw Zach off even more then with Sans and Papyrus. The sheer impossibility of walking, talking skeletons was apparently so out there, that his brain couldn’t bring itself to be too unnerved by them. Sure he’d been weirded out, but never really… bothered. 

But a yellow, bipedal lizard in a lab coat? That must’ve been just plausible enough to his brain to register; such that it induced some sort of uncomfortable, uncanny valley effect the longer he watched Alphys walk in front of them.

It wasn’t something he did for very long though, his attention shifting elsewhere as they entered a large room with a few different machines; it all looked to Zach vaguely like the sorts of things you’d see in hospitals.

“might as well start with the basics.” Sans had made his way over to one of them, which looked sort of like an x-ray machine only… not. 

The choice apparently surprised Alphys. “W-Wait… do you think this human is sick or something? Is that why you brought them here?”

Sans moved over slightly to what looked to be a monitor of some kind, pulling over a stool. “he.”

It was as much an apparent non-sequitur to Zach as it was to the doctor, “Huh?”

“zach prefers he/him.” Sans gave a slight glance towards Alphys as he sat, “if you’re gonna talk like the guy’s not here, least you can do is use the right pronouns.” Zach wouldn’t go so far as to call it angry, but the skeleton’s tone had turned sour for a moment.

“Oh! R-Right.” Was her sheepish reply.

He certainly wasn’t about to say anything with how tense things already were, but Zach felt simultaneously grateful and embarrassed. 

Sans had already turned his attention back to typing away at a keyboard that was attached to the device, the thing humming as it came on. “and i wouldn’t call it  _ sick _ , but it’s something the examiner might help figuring out.”

“The what?”

That earned bewildered looks from both monsters, before both had the same realization. “right, figures a human wouldn’t know. pretty standard piece of equipment to anyone with a knowledge of the magical sciences.”

In his reality, those two words didn’t belong together, but Zach ignored that thought as Alphys spoke up with a sudden burst of eagerness. “An Examiner can EXAMINE, which is more in depth then a simple CHECK. It’s mostly used in medical diagnoses, but it can also be used on inanimate objects, which usually only reveal a base stat or two when CHECKed. It’s theorized that because they can’t produce magic on their own, only becoming magical when infused by an outside source, most objects are naturally more difficult to-”

“al.” Sans had gotten up, and was smirking at her as he directed Zach on where to stand. “maybe save the lecture for later?”

Alphys gave a small, embarrassed laugh, “R-Right, sorry, I don’t get the chance to infodump like that all that often!”

“So I just stand here like this?” Zach asked as he straightened his posture and held his arms against his sides. “I don’t need like, a lead apron or anything?”

Sans chuckled, “nah. just one sec and…” He tapped a button on the keyboard, “there.”

Before he could make his own way over, Zach was beaten by Alphys, who was looking over Sans’ shoulder. “T-This used to have a lag of almost a full minute to process the results, but I was actually able to modify it and get it down to barely ten seconds.”

“you were using it a lot, huh?” 

It seemed like a very innocuous question for Sans to ask, but for some reason Alphys froze up before smiling nervously, “O-Oh, um, well, y-you could say that.” 

Before Zach could ask if there was something going on, a small beep sound came from the monitor. Both skeleton and reptile stared at it for a moment, Sans with a look of annoyed resignation, and Alphys with mild shock, before either said anything.

“of course.”

“Is this…? I mean... I don’t think one’s ever been used on a human before, so i-it could just be something the machine needs to be calibrated for.”

“What is it?” Zach made his way over to look, and was met by a monitor showing:

> ??
> 
> AT: ?? DF: ?? HP: ??/??
> 
> LV: ?? EXP: ??

Sans was smiling bitterly at the screen when he looked over at him. “it’s not broken al, it wouldn’t even be giving results if that was the case. it can register that it’s scanning  _ something _ . and i can tell you this wouldn’t happen if it scanned one of those kids that fell.”

“H-How would you even know that? It’s not like you or I ever…” Alphys went wide eyed in what Zach could only read as horror. “W-Wait… did… did  _ he _ ...?”

Sans turned away from both of them, looking off into space as he chuckled darkly, accompanied by a shake of the head. “not many details… but it’s mentioned in one of the few scraps of notes i’ve been able to find. and not in the postulating way most of his stuff is.”

“...What are you two  _ fucking _ talking about?!”

The human was standing there in annoyed bewilderment. Both of them looked at Zach in shock, like they’d forgotten he was even standing there. Which, with how caught up in the conversation they’d been, might have been the case.

After a tense moment, Sans released a sigh and rubbed his temples. “...promise i’ll explain it to you later.”

It made him roll his eyes, but Zach otherwise didn’t argue the point; he’d done the same thing only a few hours ago. 

“Th-This is all so…” Alphys looked like she was just about ready to be sick, hand against her forehead, and a fair bit paler than earlier. Zach also learned that, unlike their animal counterparts, lizard monsters could apparently sweat. 

“you understand now, right?” Sans spoke up, gaze directed at Alphys. “why i called in the favor? why i didn’t just ‘hand the human over and have their soul harvested’?”

Said human looked over at Alphys once again, this time a little bit more frightened of her. He was unable to think of any other reason for Sans to say it like that, unless he was quoting her. Had that been part of their texts? Her pleading with him, to do that?

The panicked look on her face as she realized he was looking at her, told him that was right on the money. “I…” She gulped, audibly, before taking a deep breath, “Yes. I think so.”

Part of him wanted them to go back and focus on what he’d just learned. That Alphys had been encouraging Sans to, essentially, have him killed; and that he was now standing in the same room as her. It was something very instinctual he supposed, and in most situations completely logical, to focus on a threat like that. But Zach also knew that, right now, it was the last thing he should be doing. So he pushed it down. 

The tension coming from Alphys palpably dropped as he looked back at Sans. “So what now?” He didn’t have to be an expert after all, to see that this particular test hadn’t given Sans much data. 

The look on Alphys’ face was asking much the same question as she glanced between the both of them. Sans thought for a moment, before turning to the scientist. “i wanna scan zach with the magical spectrometer, check his DT levels.” 

Alphys’ eyes went wide once more, before she nervously laughed, “O-oh, well, you see-!” 

“al, don’t.” Sans sighed as he cut her off, leveling his gaze with hers. “don’t waste my time by lying to me. i know that equipment is in the basement levels, and i also know why you don’t want anyone going down there. ”

Zach was a bit confused, but as he looked back to Alphys, expecting her to say something that might shed some light on the situation, he instead saw that she’d gone ramrod stiff. What came out next was barely more than a whisper. “w-w-what? you-?”

“know about the amalgamations, yes. i don’t plan on telling anyone.” Sans stood up from his stool, standing face to face with the other monster now. “so are you gonna help or not?”

* * *

The elevator was even more dingy looking on the inside than it did looking in. Not… dirty per se, but definitely not upkept well. Funnily enough, it ended up reminding him of his apartment complex’s elevator, when it was actually operating at least; right down to the noisily flickering light above them. Not what Zach expected out of a high-tech, magical lab.

He was almost thankful for the noise providing something to focus on, to distract from the tense atmosphere as they rode down. It wasn’t quite loud enough, however, to drown out the sudden sound of rumbling. For a moment, he half-panicked at the idea of the elevator falling, before instantly realizing the noise was coming from  _ him _ . 

“I um… there’s a vending machine near where this lets off,” Alphys nervously offered, complete with a hesitant smile. “It’s still stocked with a couple snacks, um, unless one of the amalgams broke into it. Which they probably haven’t!”

He gave a small laugh, accompanied by a declining head shake, “Thanks for the offer.”

She looked at him quizzically, but Sans spoke up before she could ask her question. “monster food doesn’t seem to nourish zach. another thing i’m gonna wanna test.”

“Really... Huh, I never knew that about humans. Which is weird, because I know more about humans than most monsters!”

The elevator let out a muffled ding as it came to a stop, and the doors began to slide open. “cause that’s not a thing with other humans.” Sans curtly answered as he stepped off, Zach following shortly behind. Emphasis on shortly; this basement was only  _ barely _ lit, and he was worried he’d end up tripping or getting lost if he trailed behind.

A further bewildered Alphys followed a moment later, hurrying to catch up. “C-Could it be because he’s a fully matured human? Maybe something in their magical composition changes as they age!” She sounded almost giddy as she said it, and it took Zach a second to realize that, as a scientist, this was probably the sort of thing she really enjoyed; theorizing about things that weren’t understood yet.

“Maybe,” He offered with a slight smile.

Then Sans said what he was actually thinking, “but probably not.”

If the elevator had been a familiar sort of dingy, the lab was a kind of dingy that Zach hadn’t ever experienced firsthand before. Not only was it too dark to see much more then a few feet ahead, it was like there was a mist or fog in the air, obscuring things even more. He wondered if it was the remnants of antiseptics, like the kind used in hospitals; because that was certainly the scent in the air. It was just as stale smelling too. And to top it all off, every step they made echoed around the hall in a very dull way, like the mist itself was muffling the noise. 

Zach swore Alphys couldn’t have made the place more like a horror movie if she’d tried.

Thankfully, the machine that they were apparently looking for wasn’t far from where the elevator let off, and Zach was directed on where to position himself as the two monsters booted and readied the massive piece of equipment. The room also had better lighting than the halls, which was a slight improvement.

“So... am I gonna feel anything?” He idly asked, as the thing came on with the distinctive sound of humming electronics.

“Umm…” 

Sans apparently didn’t share Alphys’ uncertainty, “ya feel anything last time?”

“No.” At least he didn’t  _ think  _ so.

“well there’s your answer. just sit still.” With that and a button press, the humming grew much louder, almost like an engine revving, before it died off just as fast, accompanied by a mechanical thump.

After a couple seconds of silence, Zach spoke up once more. “...Is it done?”

“huh? oh, yeah, you can get up.” Sans sounded distracted, and it quickly became apparent why, as the human made his way over, and saw both him and Alphys scrutinizing a computer monitor. 

“Well, um… it doesn’t seem to be DT, but there’s certainly... some kind of magical signature there, even if it’s really faint. That’s something, right?” She asked, looking over the skeleton’s shoulder at a series of graphs and a blobby image that Zach couldn’t quite make out. What he could make out however, was the sunken nature of Sans’ shoulders.

“no, cause that’s my own. i recognize it.” He shook his head a bit. “residual, from when i took a shortcut with zach in tow.” Sans placed his hands on his skull, dragging his fingers down the sides, before leaning back in the chair with a tense laugh. “well it’d be too easy if this had worked, right?” He glanced back at Zach as he asked this, the young man grimacing.

He was starting to feel guilty for making Sans do this, even after the guy had told him that this was going to happen. But… no. He shook his head, and looked Sans in the eye sockets, “There’s gotta be more we can do. More tests we can run. This lab is huge!” He looked to Alphys, “Right?”

“Wha-? Um…” It was clear that she wasn’t expecting to be tagged into the conversation like that, and squirmed a little before managing an answer, “I mean, that’s certainly not  _ wrong.  _ Although... I’m certainly stumped as to which might be useful! Especially seeing as neither of you have told me what you’re looking for.” The last bit was mumbled, but not particularly quietly.

Sans laughed, “well that’s our secret al. we don’t really  _ know  _ what we’re looking for.” He gave an over-exaggerated shrug. “just figuring i’d know it when i saw it. pretty stupid, huh?”

For a moment, all three of them were silent, Zach and Alphys just looking at him. The young man could tell that this was wearing on Sans, badly. Every test that didn’t return answers just reinforced that belief the skeleton had voiced earlier, back in his basement. That they were stuck. And nothing they did could hope to change that fact. It wasn’t something he was willing to just accept right now, but Zach was worried how Sans might react if he kept pushing.

He wasn’t quite sure how, but something in his expression as he looked at the skeleton must’ve given him away. The bitter edge to Sans’ expression quickly morphed into something else for a split second, before he shifted back to his neutral smile and stood up from his seat. “i’m gonna… clear my skull for a sec. being down here is makin me restless. you’ll hear rattling in a sec if i don’t take care of it.”

“W-Wait, where are you-?” Alphys’ worried question was waved off, the skeleton already walking out of the room.

“i know al. avoid the amalgams. don’t worry, i know this place like the back of my hand.”

A few seconds passed before either Zach or Alphys looked at each other.

To say things felt awkward would be an understatement. Even if Sans hadn’t just left like that, the two of them were both wary of each other at best. And so the first few seconds of staring were equally as silent as the seconds beforehand, both of them waiting for the other to say or do something first.

“I-”

“I-” 

Zach snorted and Alphys winced as both of them stumbled over each other’s words. He motioned at her to go first. “I um… The um… They need to be fed around now. I-I should get around to it, they’re already going to be j-jumpy with the unexpected visitors, being hungry will make them even worse…”

He still wasn’t quite sure what  _ they  _ even were, but Zach had a pretty strong feeling that Alphys wasn’t about to explain it. Especially not to him. “I’ll go and... check on Sans,” He said with a sigh, motioning off in the direction the skeleton had left.

“O-Okay, y-you should be safe. They usually don’t like to spend time in that wing of the lab.” Right before Zach left, she spoke up again, “Just d-don’t panic if you do find one, okay?”

“...right.” Cause that was going to be  _ so _ easy, when he didn’t even know what he was supposed to not panic about!

And so he made his way down the dim hall. Now that he was by himself, it was hard not to be at least a little creeped out by the poorly lit … surroundings. It was the sort of setting he’d seen in horror movies for crying out loud. He half expected Michael Myers to burst through one of the many doors he passed.

Thankfully, finding Sans wasn’t that hard. One of the few open doorways in the next hall was casting a brighter light out into the hallway, and sure enough, Zach found the skeleton standing inside, along with something else he wasn’t expecting to see.

“...I’m guessing this is where the botany studies are done?” Finding a plethora of plants, mostly flowers from what he could see, was not what he expected.

Sans jumped and spun around with a glowing hand shooting out in his direction, eye sockets wide with panic, pausing as Zach stepped back. Not entirely on his volition either: it had felt like something had just given him a slight shove, like a strong gust of wind or something. It took a moment to realize that his body was giving off a very faint, but similarly colored, glow like Sans’ outstretched hand.

The skeleton visibly relaxed, dropping his hand, which immediately stopped glowing, before letting out a small laugh. “that would’ve thrown most folks against the wall.”

Zach glanced behind him. The wall had to be a good ten feet away. “Well… glad I’m not most folks.” Sans smirked. “Are you okay?”

“oh yeah, just… got caught up in something, didn’t hear you coming.” He noticed there was a series of loose papers right behind the skeleton.

“What was it?”

Sans looked back for a moment, a pensive expression on his face as he focused on those papers. “...well it wasn’t what i was looking for.” He finally said before sighing, “was hoping i might be able to make myself useful while clearing the old skull, start looking into studies on plant growth, if we had any methods that didn’t impart a significant percentage of magic into the structure.”

That made him laugh, “What, you saying you’re going to become a farmer just to feed my ass?”

It was meant as a joke, but the look on Sans’ face indicated he was taking it far more seriously than Zach expected. “...how long can humans go without food?”

Oof, now that was a question that took the wind out of his sails. “I uh… assuming I had water, I could last around two weeks or so.” The longest he’d actually gone without eating before was around two days, and that alone had been agonizing. “So if you’re considering what I think you are… theoretically I’d last long enough for quicker growing plants to actually start producing.” For now, he didn’t mention that just sounded like a much slower way of killing him via nutritional deficiencies or something. It wasn’t like he was a doctor or something anyway, so maybe it  _ could  _ work. 

Sans seemed to be deep in thought after those answers, but Zach spoke up once more after a few moments.

“That’s not what I was asking about though.”

“huh?”

He sighed, hands buried in his pockets, “Earlier, ya know? After that last test.” Sans’ face tightened up and he looked away. “You mad at me?”

“what?!” Sans was looking back at him again, surprised. Had he been trying to hide it then?

“I know you didn’t want to do this, and I sort of guilted you into going along with it.”

Before he could continue to lay it out, Sans waved his hands, “no. no. no, that’s not it. i’m  _ not  _ mad at you,” He said firmly, although the frustration with how he said it made it hard to believe. Zach’s skepticism must’ve been apparent, as Sans then sighed, “i  _ am  _ mad. but not at  _ you _ .” The human tilted his head, and Sans continued, “i’m mad because… i wanna help you, but i know i can’t. you deserve  _ better _ than this.”

It was hard to know what to say to that. For one, Zach hadn’t had someone worry about him like this in... a while. So he was already out of practice in handling the topic. The way it was messing with the feelings he’d been doing his best to ignore only complicated things. Eventually, he broke the silence. “Let’s say you’re right, that you can’t help. You’re still trying. That’s not nothing, it’s… a lot more than most of the people in my life could say.” He smiled, “So stop hating on yourself like that. Otherwise I’ll have to beat your ass for being so rude to my friend.”

He was worried when Sans just stared at him. Had he really fucked it up that bad? But then, the skeleton started to chuckle, growing louder until his deep laugh filled the room. “you’re something else, ya know that?” Sans shook his head as his last peals of laughter echoed, “normally i don’t take well to being threatened, but i guess i can make an exception this time.” He made his way over, a slight bit of blue gracing his face. “this uh… friend of yours, made a compelling case to go easy on you.” Before Zach could say anything, Sans had moved past him, back into the hall. “now let’s get going on this next test before i change my mind.”

Zach caught back up. “Where are we headed?”

“well, think of it like a… magical shower.”

The human’s face scrunched up. “Excuse me?” 

Sans chuckled again, “the residue of my own signature was still showing up when we tried scanning you. if you do have a faint signature of your own, that coulda drowned it out in the readings.”

Zach was pretty sure he followed along. “So you’re saying you got your magic all over me, and now I need to wash it off.” He let out a laugh, “Sounds gross when I phrase it like that.” He couldn’t see it as he followed behind, but Sans’ face was getting a bit flushed again.

“yeah, you-” 

They rounded a corner, and Zach immediately stumbled back with a yelp, “HOLY-!”

The large…  _ thing _ in front of them let out a loud, piercing screech; it sounded like a dying animal’s cries, mixed with the shrillest dial-up connection in the world.

“zach, don’t move!” It was an absurd command for Sans to give, considering what they were faced with, but Zach did his best.

The creature before them… he wasn’t even sure this was a monster. Not in the sense of those he’d met so far at least. It looked  _ wrong _ in ways that spoke of intense pain and horror, the young man unable to even determine where it began, with the top half seeming to possess multiple, misshapen faces. Each of them would occasionally let out a far softer, but still unnerving chirp like before. 

And yet Sans was standing before it, appearing completely unafraid. He slowly looked back at him, a stern look on his face, “they’re not going to hurt us. we just need to-”

Somehow, someway, one of those small, electronic sounding chirps did something to the electronics he had on him; his own phone started ringing, loudly.

The thing let out another screech, making both of them flinch, before it surged forward, shoving past Sans and directly towards the source of the noise. 

Fight or flight came into full effect; Zach spun around without a word, only panicked gasps as he ran. Down the hall, past door after door, around corners, sprinting in a way only a human fueled by instinct could. But instinct would only get him so far; it was still following him, he could hear it right behind him.

He had to think. Fast.

Zach went for the most obvious course of action he could come up with. On rounding the next corner, he began trying doors, desperate to find one to take shelter behind. They all had room numbers etched onto them, fading.

Room 270. Locked. 

Or stuck. He didn’t want to take the time to find out.

Room 268. Locked.

He could hear it gaining.

Room 266. Locked.

It was surging around the corner.

Room 264. His heart was beating like a drum inside his head as the knob turned all the way. He threw the door open. 

A deep, inky blackness greeted him; before he could even decide to enter or not, that blackness reached out and grabbed him. Zach didn’t even have time to struggle before he was engulfed.

...

This time, he didn’t wake up on the basement floor.

  
  


Ḯ̵͐͜ ̸̦̟̪̳̲͛͠t̴̺̝̟̬͈͗̽ ̸̠̍̓Ẇ̸̪͚̰ ̴̯̞͇̿̓̈́͌ͅọ̴̡͌͛̕ ̸͓̖̊̚u̸̬͎̼͍͍͂̌͛̆̑ ̴̡̝̀̿̐̒͘͜l̶̲̱̳̮̅̈̌͒̇ ̵̺̘̩̳͒̎̇̇͜d̶͚͈̍̅̒͝ ̴̨̝̱͊̈́̎ͅS̷̻̈ ̷̡̢̂̒́͗ḙ̸͓̤̱͉͋̒̾̈ ̷̨̨̈́̈́̓͜͜ę̴͉͍̖͊̐͊̌̅ ̵̰̄̾̃m̷̨̢͉̣̪̓̎̐ ̴̧̺̱̬̩͗̎͂̒I̴̛̯̒̅ͅͅ ̶̦͙̃̉͊H̸̟̟͉͆̊͛̕ ̴̖̰̤̰̍̕͝a̸̠͒͒̄͗ ̷̠̗̗̫̻̆̕v̷̻̘̟͒̉͠ ̵̤̾͑̓͂̿ḙ̵̀̈́͐̈́ ̶̧̺̍́̾͊̓Ã̶͙͕̘͚͊͒̚ ̶̬̪͚̓̓͒͜͠ͅV̴͚͔̪̽̓̄͑̚͜ ̸̇̇́͜͝ǐ̸̗̮̟ ̷̧͙̦̺̳̇̐̔s̷̨͔̻͚̙̽̇ ̷̡̳͕͒͜i̸̪͊̋̍̾ ̶̱̗̉̓͊ţ̶̢́̇̎̽ ̷̥̱͚̳̫̏ơ̸̡̤̇̃̚͠ ̴̟͍͈͆̊͑̕r̶̢͐̒


	13. Superclass

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, how about this new year huh? It sure has started... hopefully the rest of it is better! Anyway, here's something that can hopefully distract you for a little while, a new chapter!

“Who’s there?” He asked.

At least, he _tried_ to ask that. Zach was both confused and alarmed to realize that he couldn’t feel his mouth moving. Or anything else, for that matter. Was this what out of body experiences were like? In those however, he was pretty sure you could still see things. But instead, everything was swallowed in complete, featureless darkness.

He was pretty sure however, that he had definitely just heard something. He could’ve sworn it was a voice… sort of.

“ _Ah, yes, it takes a moment to adjust to the void.”_

There it was again! And although it was still impossible to make out what was being said, that sure sounded like someone speaking underneath a layer of… something else he couldn’t even begin to describe. “Hello?” Zach could only hope that he was actually moving his mouth as he willed it.

_“I had forgotten how porous the boundary between thought and speech can be for the unaware.”_

He swore he almost understood that. At the very least the first part. Sounded like ‘I had’? It was like whatever was masking the voice was slowly fading away.

“It would be more accurate to say that your psyche learns to filter it out.”

“Holy shit.” And just like that, it wasn’t completely dark anymore. Although everything else was still pitch black, the person before him was almost paradoxically clear to see. Zach was also suddenly granted awareness of his own body again. Including how he had just fallen back in surprise, right on his ass, onto some sort of solid ground in the blank expanse.

“Quite a rude way to greet someone… how expected for a human.” The monster(?) looked unimpressed, “Though considering the circumstances, I suppose it can be excused this time.” Their figure was striking, in a very uncomfortable way, back hunched and straight cracks down their face. They somewhat reminded him of the... thing, he and Sans had stumbled upon, only ratcheted back several steps.

Wait. The thing he and Sans… “Am I dead?” He remembered being grabbed by something as soon as he opened that door. It might have been another one of the same things he’d been running from. He stood back up as he asked this, before the… well their voice was certainly masculine sounding, but with everything going on, he definitely wasn’t going to presume. Maybe they were the Gri-

“I am no psychopomp _human_.” The figure spat out the last word like a curse, their irritation clear as Zach’s eyes went wide, before they smiled coldly at him, “Your thoughts are still leaking out, although not quite as readily as before. As I said earlier, speech and thought do not have a clear delineation in the void.” They tilted their head as if pondering something, “Few things do, actually. Why, the only thing preventing you from ceasing to exist right now is your own ego.” Two hands emerged from the cloak they were wearing, as a self-satisfied look spread across their face. “You may call me Doctor Gaster; and yes, I considered myself a man, back when such things mattered.”

Zach struggled to find his voice once more, before he cleared his throat. “So... it’s literally ‘cogito ergo sum’ right now?” Wait, did that mean he even _had_ an actual throat to clear right now?

“Essentially. The intricacies would be lost on the likes of you.” The arrogant dismissal would have rankled Zach in any other situation, but it was just a momentary annoyance right now. There were bigger problems to worry about. Before he could speak however, Gaster continued with a condescending smirk. “‘You’ being Zachary Dunn. An almost remarkably unremarkable human.”

It seemed not getting angry would prove difficult, and he began to scowl. “You get that from my thoughts too?” 

“No. You’ll undoubtedly be pleased to know that those became much harder to parse, once you were made aware of the phenomenon.” Gaster’s hand rose to his chin, as he began to mumble, “Although the question is whether that is due to being made aware, thus strengthening that divide, or merely a byproduct of that amount of time…” 

Zach was starting to consider speaking up as the monster kept going, but it seemed Gaster finally noticed that he was staring at him, straightening his posture with another smile that seemed far too self-pleased. “Ah, yes. You will have to forgive me, it has been quite some time since I’ve had the _pleasure_ of company.”

Well if the Doctor was going to be so damn smarmy, Zach certainly wasn’t going to hesitate to return the favor. “What, you’re telling me this cozy little…” He off-handedly gestured around them, “infinite nothing _isn’t_ a popular tourist attraction?” 

“...How droll.” Gaster’s shoulders raised in what might have been a silent laugh, as he shook his head. “Of course he would be fond of you.”

“He?” Zach shook his head, “Also, were you the one that grabbed me?” Something had pulled him into the darkness, that was certain.

“The void is not something I can control,” The monster replied vaguely, and began to pace, moving past Zach, only to pause, “To answer your earlier question, I knew your name because I have been watching you since your trans-universal journey began.” Gaster glanced over his shoulder, “Even to one such as myself, your arrival was… unexpected.”

 _That_ was more than enough to make the young man swiftly forget his earlier annoyance. “...How much do you know?” He could hear his voice tremble as he said it.

Gaster laughed, loudly now, and it was only now that Zach was able to recognize something else in the monster’s gaze. Something very dangerous. Similar to Flowey. Like he was about to be pinned down and dissected. “Much. Far _too_ much. But I suppose you mean in regards to you and your situation, no?” 

“Stop being fucking cryptic and answer me!”

He didn’t even see him move, but Gaster was now looming over him, just like that. Those eyes… no. Not eyes. Sockets? Maybe. They were empty at the very least, and Zach was granted a new appreciation for Papyrus. The skeleton’s sockets had been empty too, yes, but they hadn’t been like this. The sort of emptiness that bored through a person, threatening to suck you in, and smother till there was nothing left. 

_The void._

“Let me make something very clear.” Gaster’s hand was on his shoulder now, grip tight and icy, fingers digging in, as his voice seemed to boom between his ears, inside his head. “I _despise_ humans. In every universe I’ve had the opportunity to observe, your species is _always_ a bane upon monsterkind. Without fail. And with so much free time as I have here, I would normally _relish_ the chance to distract myself with inflicting some of that suffering back in kind.” And then, slowly, the grip loosened. “So I hope you understand what a privilege I am extending to you, that I will **SPARE** you from such a fate.”

Zach took a small step back the moment Gaster let go, and stared at him. The monster was intimidating, but he wasn’t going to be cowed into some whimpering mess; having already died several times now probably helped in putting on a brave face. “Why? I get the feeling you’re not the charitable type.”

The lack of reaction had him wondering for a moment if he hadn’t been heard, but Gaster then slowly turned around, facing away from Zach, looking back out into the black nothingness. “A few reasons. For one, you come from a universe I _haven’t_ had the opportunity to observe. One completely unlike all the others I’ve seen till this point.” A small chuckle escaped him, “And I am still encountering difficulties observing it, only managing occasional glances. It’s provided me much to consider though; a break in the monotony.” The doctor turned to look back at the human, smirking, “A universe where there never have been any monsters, or magic for that matter. Meaning the only sapient species to be a victim of human cruelty... have been themselves. It’s actually quite cathartic to see!”

For a moment, the monster actually sounded _giddy,_ and Zach had to struggle to not look disgusted. It was one thing to hold a grudge, but if Gaster was seeing even a fraction of the atrocities back in the world he came from, and liking it? That was another thing entirely. “Right. Glad you’re enjoying yourself.”

If Gaster noticed the sour tone to his voice, he ignored it completely, once again starting to mumble. “Perhaps universes are segmented off into groups, based on some criteria of similarity. Like universes placed ‘closer’ than those that differ greatly...” He shook his head with a chuckle, “Listen to me ramble. It truly _has_ been some time since I’ve had a captive audience. But I digress, it’s rather crucial that I impart the next reason to you.”

The doctor locked eyes with Zach once again. “And that is…?”

“Your appearance has destabilized the anomaly. It no longer has the level of control that it once did.”

“Anomaly?” The young man blinked, “...You mean the kid?”

Gaster’s gaze narrowed, as a thin smile spread across his face. “Don’t you catch on quick? But not quite, no. Neither of the human children you have encountered are the true source of the anomaly, and their control over it is limited. They merely serve as its anchor.”

 _Neither?_ What did he mean, _neither_? He’d only met one kid so far, once. But before Zach could voice that question, Gaster continued. “I cannot say for certain, but I suspect it took an interest in you upon your arrival. Perhaps tried to latch onto you as its new anchor. It would of course, quickly realize your nature makes that not only difficult, but detrimental to its very integrity.” One of the monster’s hands rose up, to point a finger directly at the human’s chest. “Hence why part of it now lies with you.”

Zach froze. “...What?!” He immediately placed a hand over his chest.

Once again, Gaster continued in spite of him, dropping the pointing hand with another smirk, “Tell me Zachary, what was it that the human child said to you again?”

He racked his memories, trying to remember the details of that chaotic situation. “They… said something about… something about the resets. That they wouldn’t work right or something. Is that because of the part of the anomaly I’m stuck with?” And suddenly it all clicked into place. Why there’d been that strange lurch not an hour before he’d encountered the kid. How he’d been dead for days before the first reset. Why the kid had attacked him with almost mindless desperation. “...The reset can’t happen when I’m alive.”

“Correct. And thus my other reason for sparing you.” Gaster looked as pleased as the cat that ate the canary, steepling his hands in front of him. “I wouldn’t want to _help_ the anomaly after all.”

Questions began to flood through Zach’s mind; hows, whys, and whats. But before he could ask any of them, he was hit by a dizzying, falling sensation, and buckled. 

“Ah, it would appear my earlier suspicion was correct. The void is beginning to reject your presence.” The human was dragged back up straight, now face to face with Gaster, as his head spun. “ **Listen. Closely.** ” Zach nodded at the command, finding himself too out of breath to properly answer. Everything was starting to become fuzzy. “Your presence will slowly corrode the other anchor’s c̷o̷n̷n̶e̵c̷t̴i̵o̵n̶ ̵t̶o̷ ̷t̸h̶e̴ ̷a̷n̷o̷m̷a̷l̴y̸.Ị̴̈́̇̏t̸̬̅̍̆ ̴̠̭̇̍ẅ̶̝̤̞́ȉ̴̧͉͠l̴̗̲̝̆l̸̙̓̑͛ ̵̨̭̙̓͌̕ṛ̸̾̃͛ͅę̷͙̪͛͗q̷̼̾ͅũ̶̗̥̱i̶̻̱̪͠r̶̲̭͊ě̵̙̤́ ̸͎̿̈t̸̯̾͘i̷̢̿̄͠m̴̛̫̯̅e̷̳̽ ̸̘̊̓͝a̸̫̺͆̐͒ņ̴̟̋͋͜͝d̶͙̯͗̋ ̸̫̀͆p̴̣̻̔e̶̥͛̆́r̴̻̫̘̋̈ş̴͖̕ͅị̶̭̑̉͘s̶͒̄̈́͜t̸̝̙͕̏͠e̵̺̔̈́̃n̴̘͈̓͑͐c̵̛̘͇̋͑ȇ̸̖̇̐.”

Time and persistence. He mouthed the words back, though it was difficult to even move at this point.

The grip Gaster had on him loosened, or perhaps he was growing numb. Either way, it felt like he was falling, down into the nothingness. “Ȏ̵̼̠̎̾h̸͕̊̈́͆̽͌͋̐̎̚͝,̷̢̱͕̘͕̫͒͂͂͊̓̑͜͝͝ ̸̝̦̹̹͈̼̝̹̞̩̏̋̑̉̎̏̍̅͝͠a̷̛̼̘̠̤̣̳͇̣̣͆̽n̶̯̹̲͇̤̊̐̔͜d̷͇͇̻̜̺̮͚̯̺̿̀̇ͅ ̸̢̰͓͉̟̠̠̺̪̗̹̈́̎͒̏̌̌̓̍̀͝d̶͖̲̜̜̣͍̩͖̠̋̀͛͑͊̃͌͜ớ̶̢̡̖̤̠̩̟̰̓͐̀̔͂͌̄̐̓ ̶̟̠̫͕͖̰͗̇̀͜͝͝g̸͎̲͇̜̥͖̰̯̖̈́̎̾̕í̷̡͓͕͇͓̲̜̎̓͛̅̄̉̈́̏͒͘v̷̧̨̡̮͓̬̗͓͎̺̈́͒̕͜ͅe̷̡͚͖͕͇͖̥̦͕͖͝ ̵̡̡̖̠̾S̶̨̛̼̥͔̥̩̭̖̯̯͖̹͒͂̽͌̔͗͊̃͌͆̂͋a̸̛͖̖̗̤͚̝̺͇͉̟͚̗͐̐͑͒̊͜n̷̛͉͙̦̎̋̄̐̔͛͗s̶̡̢̨̢̢̮͖̳̜͍̋̆͐͒̽̐̄̎̈́̓̆̆͆͜ͅ ̸̰̪̣̈́̆̇̾m̷̧̜̓̋̿̔͋͋̍͂y̷̥̾̌̎͂̅̆́̕͝ ̶̝͎̬̟̩͇͈͒̕̚ŗ̷̨͎̀̄̎̽̇̆̽͝ͅě̴̱̻̳̭͓͍͌͂̑̓̈͗̏͆͘ͅģ̸̨̟͙̣̙̥̭̺͉̇̅̑̿̽̂̕͠a̴͇̝̜͚̜̻̘̒̒̐̆̿͘r̸͔̼̘̓͜ḓ̵̭̲͉̖̟̹͎̠̼̜̹̇̓̊s̴̡̹͇̯̔̅̇̊͝.̵̫̩̮̣̜͎̠̹̖͖͚͍̈́͒̏̂̏͜͝”

_T̵̡̡̛̻̩̪̯̱̥̭̳̫̠̲̄̈́̎̉̊̑̈́͐͋̄̂́͌͗͌̈͒̐͜͜͠ ̷̧̨̢͕͙̳͚͖͚͇͍̊̀̆̍̈́̉̾̌̾̕̚̕͘h̵̢̝͓̺̣̻̳͈̖͖̲̘͕͊̍̀̈̓̒̇̒̚͘͝ ̷͔̼̗̻̦̗̘̖͔̯̰͖̺̬̳̖͕̣̻͓̝͉͓̾̿̎̊̊͆͑͘ͅȏ̷̜͖͔͉͉̗͎̱͔̳̳̍̑͑̏̚͝ ̵̗̈̽̏̅̆̈͠ủ̷̧̢̡̠̗͙͗̌̉́̓̾̕͝͝ ̵̢̡̛̫̣͚̣̹͚̻͕̗͎͍͇̭͍̮̥̦͖̈̓̉̓̂̇̔̉̈́̍͌̓̆̄̇̍̊̓̚͠ͅͅg̵̡̢̺̭̣̝̱͎͈̯̲̰͚͓̳̤͙̗̀̏́̔̈̉̂͜͝͝ ̴͎͛̎̋͛͒̀͋̍͒͂̽̄͊h̸̦͎̩͉̭̅͐̍͌̿̐͒̒̾̓̅̿̕͝͝ ̵̧͇̑̀͋̌͐̍́͊͋̈́̿̾̾̄͊̕͜Ḯ̵̡̩̯̱̬̘̲͍̙̜̜̦̹̠͕͔̳̻͎͉̝̼̙͍̖̇ ̸̨̧̧̰̭̯͙̰̜͎̱̬̟̟͇̖̥͈̘͉̠̻̥̆̔̈́̆̀̈́̽̋̔̽͋͂͗͂̐̚͝d̴̨̢͉͍̘̠̩̹̤̪͉̱̺̣̳͎̮̮͉̳͔̻̘̜͌͌͆͂̾̌̾̃͂̂͂́͂̄̒͆͊̒̀̓͊́͝͠͠ ̴̛̛̪͈͔̰̼͒͋͆̑͒͗̔̋̊̈́͝ơ̴͚̙̠̜͇̝̯̖͐̾̐̉͊͂͝ͅ ̴̡̬̪̽̓̎̇͂̍̿̐̽́͌̾̓́͐̒͌̋́͘͝͝͝͠͠ự̴̥̩̹̐̓̂̅͑̓̎̏͆͛̀͌̒͋̊̇̕̚̚͜ ̵̧̢̧̛̙̼̩͕̱̹͍͔̪̪̗̭̱̰̪̣̖͚̥̭͇͐́̽͆̓͆͐̓̈̎͊̇͊̋͊̓̊̾̚͜ḃ̷͕̖̔ ̶̢̢̧͇͕͍̞͇͉͚̬͇̜͍̖̭̥͙͉̠̲͇̒t̵͎̑̈͐͐̾̏̏͐̈́̄͂̉̆̓̈́̕͠͝ ̷̢̨͕̳̠̱͖̹͓̖̺͇̺͕̤͈̺̻̪͖̗̿̌͜͝h̵̢̰͔̼͖͈̜̠̻́͊͌͛̍͋̆̊̒͒̍̑́̏̃̈́̈́̈́̽͋͐̕͝ ̴̼̮͓̺͉̼̠͕̘̻͍̻͍̫͇̈́͋̃̈̈̄̅̃͑̆̿͐̀̀̒̾͐̽̍͝͝͝͝ͅe̶̡̢̱̱̪̱̯̜̯̦̥͙̙͕̠̗͙͋̂̃͊͘̕͜ ̵̡̖̠͉͈̳͓͚͎͍̗̼͒̉̊̏̌̊̍͠͝ͅͅͅm̵̨̪̼̲̔͛͗̄̑͐̕ ̸̡̟̞̳͔͍̏i̵̩̣̹̬̬̬̲͕͚͎̣̱̭̘̻̻̲̘͓̤̜͚͆̾̽̽̌̔̔̋ͅ ̷̡̛̛̙̭͉̳̼̫̘̭̞̦̪̈́͊̌͗̿̑̅̊̾̑̎̍̈́͑̍͌̐̊͌͆̚͝ͅs̷̪̪̈́̓͊̃̓̎͆ ̷̨̛͈̟̬͎̜̺͕̜̠̞̼͇͈̣͔̓͛͝ͅͅş̷͉̠̲̱̮̼̺̬̫͎͎̥̺̻̙͙̱̩͓̩̋̍̉̓͜ ̶̛̛̯̗͉̘̩͇͖͋͗̏̐͗̀̃͒̆̎͂̓̑̈́̓̈́͘̕͘͜͠ê̶̛̪̫͚̤͙̬̒̍̔̾̆̃̓̅͌͋͒̿̕̚̕͠͠͝͝͝ ̸̢̹̟̺̟̻̯̝͓̝̉̀͗̑̈́̆͒̈́̃̑͐͛̕̕s̵̛̛̞͓̱̞͔̭̀̿̾̾̌͗́̌̈́̉̅̔̕̚̚ ̸͚̘̮̮͉͇͚͚̼̣̦̬̜̻̘͌̎̀̉̊̿̃̈́̉̚̕͝ͅh̷̢̨̛̖̯͕̱̲̙͕̤̠̝̝̬͉͎͔̣͔͓̗̖̄͊͑̆͋̾͛̍̃͊̿̈́͊̒́̚͜͝͝ ̵̡̛̣̭̤͎̬͇̗͂͊́̄͊̏̃̀͊̈́̂͑̍͂̂̑́̿́̌̿̐̒̾͝ͅī̵̗̲̬̲͗̓̉̄̉̒̆͋̅̕ͅ ̵̡̡̡̰̤̜͙̮̞͙̱͙͚̣͙̱̦̭̥͎̣̓̌̆̏͒̓͐͝s̸̘̤͕̖̊̾̓̒͛͆͒̾͗̎̃̊̊̈́̃̐͒͑̕͘ ̴̝͚̝̱͔͍̩͚̘̟͎̬́̉͂̉̍̇̉͂̃̄̍ͅf̷̡̛͍͖̱̰̠̼̩͙̠̪̫̦͔̯̅͗͑̃̌̈́̿̕͠ ̵̨͇͓͓̝̘͎̩̳̠͈͔͖̤̀͒̊͊̄̂̓͒͌̈́̿̉͗̕͝͝͝ͅā̵͙̫̰͍̩ ̵͍͓̘̲̙̼͕̗̦͑̐̂̽̆̓̿̊̍͋͌̌̽̚ͅt̷̨͙̝̫͓̠̹̫̠͍̬͈̝͙͚̮̙͇̬͕͕̯̞̦̞̂̿̈́͒͆͒̇̿͗͑͒͌̾͊̈́̕͜ ̴̯͔̮͍͓̭̖̪̪̫̗̼̜͕̹̮̤̀̎̈́̋̆͒̆͑͌͛͋͆͋̊̾̎̓̾̕ḥ̷̢̨̧͕͍̠̰͎̮̭̗͎̺͊̀̔̒ ̵̧̳̮̺͓̣͚̩̖̗̲̩̹̱̗͙̱͎̓͐̈́̆͆̅̓̈͂̿̎͊͂͋̒̃̔̄̄̃̕͠e̴̡̦̖̪̮̘̭̗̱̜̻̝͊̔ ̴͈̘͔̭̼̣̤͍̫̻̳̰̭̣̰̩̼̺͊̚͜͝ŗ̵̞̰̞̠̂̈́̀͛̿͋̈́͐̎̓̑̓̉̓̅͂̒͝ ̷̫̯̱̠̒̓́̇̓͊̈́͂̌̀̽̿̾̾̒̕m̶͈̩̘̪̼̦̤̼̺̟̺̳̮͉̗͙͚̯̟͓̖͋͑́̍͒̈́͗̉̾̚͜͜͝ͅ ̸̧̢̢̧̝̫͖̖̖̰͇̩̹͙̀̏̽̓ű̴̢͍̻̱͉̪̪̯̩̫̖̬͌͊͆̇͋͛̂̈̇͂͛̆̑̉͠͠ ̶̢̡̛̛̭̦̦̭̬̫̲͉͙̟̱̱̱̻̙̺͕̪͎̐̍͊̃̈̾̓̒͛͑͝͝͝ͅͅç̶̧̗̟͚͙͙̙͚̩̦͔͐ ̶̡̢̢̼̻͓͔̦͓͕̥͔̳͍͕̪̰̙͕̥̞͓͓͂̎̂͂͐͐̌͛̈́̆̓̆̑̕͜͝ͅḩ̴͍̩̦̥̬̳̤̜͇͉͇̥̄̇̂̉͛̊̏͊̿̔̑͋̎͐͊́̚̚̕͜_.̸͕̖̝̦͉͉̫̟͇͇͕̹̙͌̓̈́̎͛̃͋̊̓͊̽̑̐͆̃͛̕͝͠ͅͅ

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that this one was a fair bit shorter then usual, but to make up for it, here's some art that I commissioned from the amazing moxRick: https://twitter.com/RickAngelBTZ
> 
> Art: https://twitter.com/katamariofsoul/status/1342928044688814080
> 
> Thanks again to all of you who leave kudos, bookmarks and comments! I'd love to hear it if any of you have critiques, questions or suggestions!


	14. Memory Leak

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for taking a bit since the last chapter, life happens I suppose. Thanks again to all of you for your kudos, bookmarks, and comments. They really mean a lot to me! Enjoy!

Sans _hated_ running. Just a complete, absolute disdain for the activity. 

There were multiple reasons for this. For starters, although it didn’t bug him nearly as much as some folks might think most of the time, his smaller stature did put him at a disadvantage, having to put in more leg work for the same amount of speed. That was only a slight hindrance though. What really made it suck was, if he was being honest, something of his own fault. His ability to shortcut meant that, even if he was in a rush, he almost never had to run. So he hadn’t, his brother’s attempts to wrangle him into training together being largely ignored, resulting in a skeleton that had piss-poor stamina. Now, you’d think the sort of cycle he’d been reliving so much would help him get into shape, which would probably be the case… if it weren’t for the obvious fact that any such physical strengthening also ended up being reset every time. And with the dark, labyrinthine nature of the lab’s hallways, shortcuts wouldn’t _cut_ it for this pursuit.

He’d laugh at his own pun if he wasn’t so out of breath.

Needless to say, the intense burning he felt from his legs and chest, as well as the sweat forming on his brow, was a large contributing factor towards his sour disposition as he finally caught up with the amalgam. “finally.” He loudly grumbled at the misshapen creature, which had stopped running, now frantically scraping and clawing against the wall. It was hard to be truly angry with the poor bastard, knowing its true nature, but Sans was pretty damn close at the moment. The fact that it wasn’t currently mauling Zach like he’d been fearing, was thankfully keeping it from completely spilling over. Which of course raised a question.

“zach? where are ya buddy?” His call dully echoed down the halls, to no response. At least, none that he could hear over the small bursts of dial-up noise. “quiet down, would ya?”

Sans turned his attention back towards the amalgam, which had stopped aggressing the blank section of wall, instead pushing and grinding against a nearby door, like it was trying to break it down. 

Ah, of course. His friend had shut himself inside to escape the amalgam, and with how thick he knew the doors were, probably hadn’t heard him just now. He let out a small, relieved sigh, before using his magic to gently lift the amalgam, giving it a stern look as it weakly struggled in the air. “you are gonna behave.” With the hand he wasn’t focusing his magic with, he turned the door handle.

* * *

“Oh my, thank goodness you’re okay!” Alphys quickly scuttled her way over, it being unclear if she was directing that comment towards Sans or the amalgam that he had dragged along. “I-I tried to call and warn you, but you know how bad reception is when you’re down here and-”

“whatever, have you seen zach?” The doctor flinched at his abrasive tone, but right now Sans really didn’t care if he’d happened to hurt her feelings, he wasn’t going to waste any time trying to be delicate.

Not only had the door he’d investigated been shut tight, but upon using his magic to force it open, Sans found only an empty room; it was the same for the other couple of doors he tried. He then finally realized that none of the doors in that hall showed any sign of recent use, the thin layer of (normal) dust that coated all of them would’ve been disturbed otherwise.

“W-Who?” The glare he leveled at Alphys was probably undeserved, but he again found himself not caring. “R-R-Right that was the h-human’s name, right!” She trembled slightly, a nervous, placating smile on her face. “I uh… h-haven’t. I-I thought they were with you.”

He gestured towards the amalgam, which he had let go of by this point, and was currently skulking towards the other end of the room. “your _friend_ here started to chase him. we got separated.”

It could just be that Zach kept running in a panic, had gotten lost in the dark halls, and would manage to find his way back before long. The lab wasn’t _that_ big after all. It was the most logical explanation, but… it didn’t sit right with Sans. But what else could it be? There was no way the kid had made their way down here, especially not without him or Alphys noticing. Flowey had trouble emerging anywhere there was solid flooring, and the labs were pretty well insulated… which reminded him, that was something else he was going to have to deal with once he found Zach. 

“Well I-I’m sure they’re fine. The um… human.” He looked up upon Alphys’ weak attempt to comfort him, only to quickly notice something was off about her expression. There was the anxious tension that he was used to seeing on the lizard monster’s face, but she also looked confused, deeply so. 

Sans grumbled, “what?”

“I um… D-Don’t get mad?” He rolled his eye-lights, but nodded. With a nervous gulp, she continued, “I know you just said it a moment ago but... what was the human’s name again? I-I can’t seem to remember it.”

“geeze al, i know the scatterbrained professor is a stereotype and all, but this is kind of ridiculous. it’s ‘zach’. one syllable. not that hard. he’s around undyne’s height, dark skin, black hair-” The skeleton stopped mid sentence. He’d been about to also add the guy’s eye color but… he was suddenly having trouble remembering it. Not just that either, but what the human’s face looked like in general. 

And just like that, it was like he’d been stabbed, a painful realization striking him straight to the soul. He recognized this feeling. It wasn’t like he was having trouble remembering. That sort of nebulous grasping for a bit of info stored away, that his mind was having trouble locating. No, this was the feeling of grabbing for that memory, only to find it gone, almost surgically excised. With nothing left in its place. 

Nothing but a void.

“no.”

“N-No what?” Before Alphys could ask anything else, he was already gone, shortcutting back to where he’d last seen Zach.

In a desperate panic, he began to search the hallway for something, anything. Any sign he could find of the human, proof that he was wrong, that this wasn’t happening. Less than a minute later, he found the opposite. 

There was a door missing. Between 262 and 266, 264 wasn’t there, just a blank stretch of wall where it clearly _should_ be. The distance from the two doors was even double the distance the rest of the hall’s doors demonstrated. And checking the rooms themselves only further confirmed his fears. They weren’t big enough, the same size as every other room lining the hall.

What Sans did next was stupid. Pointless even. He knew that, even as he called up the attack, but he did it anyway. “ _please._ ” He wasn’t even sure what he was pleading with at this point, but he’d take anything. The Gaster Blaster fired into the wall of 262, right into where 264 should be on the opposite side. It only took a couple of seconds of sustained fire to break through the wall.... right into 266.

* * *

“S-Sans?”

“what!?” The skeleton snapped back around, all but snarling at the source of his distraction, the papers and files he’d been digging through scattered all around him, momentarily cast in a slight blue as his magic flared up.

Usually, he would stop and apologize upon seeing the look on Alphys’ face. Anxious might have been her neutral state, but the doctor looked positively terrified of him right now. Instead, he just huffed after a moment of her petrified silence and turned back towards the task at hand.

He could still feel her staring at him though. “maybe you could make yourself useful for once, and help me find something.” He bluntly remarked, only a couple steps down from yelling it.

Several more seconds passed before she spoke again. “...Find what?” Alphys was already wincing when he turned back in a near rage once again, but she continued speaking, almost in tears. “What are we even supposed to find?!”

“something! anything!” Sans turned back and started frantically digging through the mass of old documents, most of them having started to yellow. “there has to have been something we missed!” What little surviving documentation there was surrounding the Core incident had been sealed up for over a decade by this point. It was funny, calling several boxes’ worth ‘little’, but Sans knew that there used to be enough to fill an entire room, maybe more. Most of it had either been destroyed, or just... vanished. But there must be some sort of hint buried in what was left. A way to fix this.

A scaled hand was placed on his shoulder, and he froze. He hadn’t even realized Alphys had gotten closer until she was kneeling down right next to him, shaking. “...Sans.” She gulped, not looking him in the eyes, “I looked through it all. M-Multiple times. And I… I know you did too. There was... there was _nothing_ there.”

“shut up.” It wasn’t a snarl or shout this time. It was a flat, unbrokered order.

But it was one Alphys didn’t follow. “Sans...” The pity in her voice made him jerk, half of him wanting nothing more than to shove her away and shout her down. The other half… “Y-You know nothing in here is going to help.” 

His fingers dug into a paper below him, “shut up.” His voice shook, and the tremble in his words wasn’t of rage this time. “i have to try.”

Alphys grimaced, “But-”

“i have to! i promised him!” Sans yelled, as if that was all the explanation that was needed. Alphys stared back, wide eyed. “i promised him.” He repeated, quieter.

He’d promised Zach that he would try. He… had hadn’t he? He remembered something about trying and a really serious, heavy feeling and… Sans shuddered. He didn’t want to forget, not again.

“W-Well, just because there was- or is- or-” The combination of stuttering, followed by a deep breath was enough to draw his attention towards Alphys, right as she continued. “Maybe it’s not as bad as the previous time? T-They didn’t fall into the Core, so...”

Sans wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry. Maybe both? What Alphys said wasn’t wrong per se, but it seemed like such a meaningless distinction. Whatever... force that had claimed Gaster was nebulous and terrifying, completely outside of anything he or any other monster understood. It wasn’t even something that could be studied and observed, not really. How could you study something that seemed to be the very antithesis of existence? Something that could destroy information itself? 

And now it had taken Zach.

“H-Hey…” There was a nervous smile on her face, the intent to try and comfort clear, even through the anxiety nearly overwhelming the lizard. “There was something different about this human, r-right? I can remember that still… Maybe that means they can get out of this.”

The fact that the Royal Scientist was clearly struggling right now, but powering through it to try and help Sans, in spite of how hard he knew that had to be for her, finally seemed to get to him. “damnit, al.” He gave a desperate laugh, reaching up to rub at his sockets, only now realizing that they’d been tearing up for a while now, glowing blue streaks dribbling down to his chin.

Alphys just stayed there, kneeling next to him, as he tried to gather himself. He could only imagine how pathetic he looked right now, sniffling in the middle of a mess of papers he’d made, as she tried to comfort him.

After what must have been almost a minute of Sans finding his breath and sense once again, she spoke. “This human must um… be important to you.” She gave a small laugh. “I can’t think of you acting like this for a-anyone besides Papyrus. Especially not a human.”

“...yeah.” The skeleton wasn’t sure how he could explain it in a way that made sense. At least, without also having to explain the awful cycle that they were stuck in. Most monsters would be terrified of a human, not sobbing over the thought of one being in danger. It was probably only the absurd circumstances and the history that they shared, that prevented Alphys from thinking he had completely lost it. “he… has a lot in common with me.”

“R-Really?” Alphys looked both surprised and intrigued by this. “I... still have a vague impression of them, and I don’t really remember that.”

Well, in terms of personality, or how they behaved, he supposed that was true. He tried to deflect instead. “his name’s zach, al. least you can do is try to remember that.”

But instead of getting flustered, Alphys instead doubled down. “Well… maybe you can describe what sort of person th- he, was? That m-might make it stick more.” Sans wasn’t sure why she seemed so interested all of a sudden. Wasn’t like she had been when Zach had actually been here. She was probably just trying to make him feel better still.

He decided to humor her. “well he’s uh… pretty nice. pretty chill.” The skeleton pauses before snorting, amused. “actually scratch that, he tries to be chill, but i think he… he cares too much to be chill, ya know? so i guess you’d say he’s careful. like… scared of being hurt, but also scared of hurting someone else.” He smiles slightly, “guess that’s one thing you and him have in common.” 

Sans expected a reaction from the doctor, but Alphys just kept staring at him, smiling a bit. “Go on.” 

What was up with her? He shook his head and continued, “he likes to make music, he told me. sort of like techno i think. he called it something else...” Was this just normal forgetfulness, or had the memory been taken from him? He kept going, now in the hope that saying these things out loud would help him to remember better. “he’s kind of poor, and works a couple different jobs. he always says he hates my jokes, but i can tell he doesn’t really, and he can be pretty funny in his own way. he hates his full name.” Which he also couldn’t remember. Damnit. Why? “he’s been trying to help me.” He traces a bony fingertip along the tile floor, tilting his head. “even though i’m the one who put him in this situation.” That fact still mystified him. It was his fault that Zach had been dumped into a living hell, but even with these faulty memories, he was confident in the knowledge that his human had never blamed him for that fact.

It took a few seconds for him to realize that Alphys hadn’t said anything since he’d stopped talking himself. Looking up, he was met by an expression on the lizard’s face that he recognized. “W-Wow, you really like him, huh?” She laughed a bit.

“are you serious right now?” Sans was back on his feet, glaring at the scientist. “zach got erased from existence, and you’re thinking about your geek matchmaking shit!?” He spat venomously, clawing at his own skull in frustration, ignoring the heated feeling of his face. It was just from the anger, obviously. That Alphys was wasting her time on something this dumb, on some relationship he and his human might have in her ridiculous imagination.

“W-Well I-” Alphys gulped and scooted back with nervous laughter. Sans wasn’t aware that his magic was already flaring up, with a level of anger that she hadn’t seen in him before. Which... only furthered her ‘theory’. “I mean he definitely seemed to at least get along well with you from what I can remember. N-Not that we talked for very long or anything but-”

The moment she paused, Sans jumped down her throat. “‘but’ what? ‘but’ you realized that you should be spending your time on _anything_ else?”

“N-No I- I- I just realized I remembered! I remembered him! Him- uh Zach, being here and-!”

Words seemed to fail her, while Sans stared in shock. “what?” That made no sense. Memories didn’t just come back when you were dealing with this thing. It only took and took, you couldn’t _recover_ from it. If he hadn’t taken careful steps to preserve the information in other places, he was certain he would have forgotten almost everything about Gaster by now. 

“I-I swear! It’s like it’s all coming back to me now!” Alphys exclaimed, “I remember you getting mad at me for not using his name, how the first test had trouble even scanning him, and- and that the last time I saw him he went to go look for you!”

And just like that, the skeleton was hit by the memory of Zach finding him, right before the amalgam had arrived. Not just a fuzzy blur, but he could remember the details. Not all of them, he didn’t have a photographic memory or anything but… “brown.”

“...what?” The seeming non-sequitur had given Alphys pause.

Sans gave a small, shaky laugh, “his eyes. i remembered what his eyes looked like.” He shuddered as he breathed in, a warm feeling spreading through his chest. This… what was happening? He was afraid to embrace this hope. 

What if it was wrong? What if it would all just vanish again in a moment? If it came crashing down into nothing? Nothing but himself. All alone. Again.

His phone started to buzz.

“W-Who’s calling you?” He’d already pulled it out of his pocket with a shaky hand when Alphys asked the tense question. 

Sans didn’t say that he didn’t know. He didn’t recognize the number. His voice failed him as he instead picked up, and brought it up to his skull. “...hello?”

“-ans? A-- you th--e? ---lly brea--g -p.” Somehow, he managed to not drop the phone in shock. And somehow, he managed to put two and two together fast enough to solve the problem before even realizing it. He shortcutted up, out of the underground labs, to right in front of the building.

The thrum of his soul, vibrating with intense fervor, drowned out the surrounding noises of Hotland. “zach?” He didn’t hear his own voice crack as he spoke, the warring fear and hope all but tearing him in two. 

And in an instant, that war was over. “Okay, that’s a lot better!” 

A blissful warmth engulfed Sans as his hope, for the first time in ages, emerged victorious. That was Zach’s voice. His human wasn’t gone. 

Of course, said human wasn’t exactly aware of the emotional acrobatics he had just performed. So what he said next didn’t exactly match the tone in Sans’ own head. 

“Uh, yeah... sooooo, how’s it going?”

He barked out a laugh, loudly, almost wheezing as he tried to recover quickly. “...you’re alive.” He eventually managed.

“Somehow, yeah!” It was only now that Sans was able to hear the emotion in Zach’s voice; of a small, disbelieving laugh that preceded him speaking, of the slight, shaky quality to his words.

The skeleton recognized it quickly. If he’d been horrified and despondent, he could only imagine what it must have been like for Zach, actually experiencing whatever it was that had grabbed hold of him, almost erasing him from existence.

His human was scared. He needed to help. He needed to make it better. “i-” A million different things to say flew through Sans’ head, with one managing to work it’s way out of his mouth first. “where are you?” 

A conversation in person would be much better than one over phone. Not to mention, there wasn’t any guarantee that Zach was safe right now, as he quickly realized.

“Okay, so uhh, don’t panic.” Naturally, that made his magic flare up in a slight panic, though not as much as what Zach said next. “I’m with the kid.”


End file.
